TCAS 2000 NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH RAYTHEON ON B1900 MODELS
Raytheon Adds TCAS 2000 to T²CAS™

Contact:
Steve Henden
Manager, Communications
ACSS, an L-3 Communications & Thales Company
623-445-7021

GENEVA, May 25, 2004 – ACSS, an L-3 Communications & Thales Company, announced today that they have teamed-up with Raytheon Airline Aviation Services (RAAS) and Raytheon Aircraft Services (RAS) to offer TCAS 2000 – ACSS’s industry leading traffic alert and collision avoidance system – as a retrofit solution for the B1900C and B1900D models.

Raytheon now offers operators two ACSS products to B1900C and B1900D operators. In January the companies announced that they would offer T²CAS, a product that combines TCAS with a terrain awareness warning system (TAWS). By purchasing TCAS 2000 now, operators give themselves an easy growth path for adding TAWS capability in the future by upgrading to T²CAS. A supplemental type certificate (STC) will be available in June for TCAS 2000 and for T²CAS in the third quarter of this year.

“We’re excited to be offering these products to B1900 operators,” said Kris Ganase, ACSS president. “Mandates are approaching for both TCAS and TAWS and these products will help meet the mandate and achieve a higher level of safety and situational awareness for pilots, crew and passengers.”

The TCAS 2000 has earned acclaim throughout aviation for its extended range surveillance capability (able to track aircraft beyond 100 nautical miles) using its ADS-B (Automatic Dependence Surveillance-Broadcast) extended squitter function. It is designed to meet future requirements such as Change 8, Airborne Separation Assurance System (ASAS) and ADS-B hybrid surveillance. The TCAS 2000 computer is easily upgradeable to ACSS’s integrated ACAS II/TAWS solution, known as T²CASÔ, by adding the innovative Thales Avionics Ground Collision Avoidance Module to the TCAS 2000 LRU.

T²CAS is a unique safety avionics product that combines a performance-based terrain awareness warning system (TAWS) with the industry’s leading traffic alert and collision avoidance system, the TCAS 2000. T²CAS received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification in February 2003. The system has been designed as a “plug-and-play” replacement for the TCAS 2000, ACSS’s second generation TCAS II currently flying on more than 7,000 corporate, regional, air transport and military aircraft.

Along with optional GPS, T²CAS provides a powerful combination of functionalities that result in space, wiring, weight and power savings. T²CAS is a performance-based system that can be applied to any business, regional, air transport or military aircraft to avoid Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT), which gives operators more time to clear terrain and traffic with an increased margin to maneuver and reduce nuisance alerts. The Ground Collision Avoidance Module (GCAM) within T²CAS enables Modes 1-5 and provides unique predictive warnings and cockpit displays.

Among the patented features is a Terrain Advisory Line that indicates where the terrain is should the aircraft continue on its current flight path. The length and duration of the alert line mirrors the cautionary terrain segment within 30 degrees either side of the aircraft flight path, out to four minutes in front of the aircraft. When the GCAM detects that the aircraft does not have sufficient climb capability to clear the terrain by a standard vertical recovery maneuver, it generates a unique identifiable “Avoid Terrain” aural-visual alert.

The growing list of T²CAS customers includes Aero California, Aeromexico, Air Atlanta Icelandic, AVITEX, EAT, Gulf Air, Federal Express, Mesaba, Northwest Airlines, ONUR Air, QATAR, Royal Brunei, SUKHOI, Swift Aviation, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Customs Service, Virgin Express, and Marinvent.

ACSS (Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems), an L-3 Communications & Thales Company, is a leader in safety avionics systems. ACSS products include the TCAS 2000 traffic alert and collision avoidance systems; MASS™, an enhanced TCAS for military operations; a family of Mode S transponders; the T²CAS™, a combined traffic and terrain collision avoidance system; TAWS+, a stand-alone 2-MCU terrain awareness warning system; and Dlink+, a communications management unit, VDL Mode 2 digital radio, and control display unit in one package. More than 9,000 units of ACSS’s products are operating in commercial, corporate and military aircraft. To learn more about ACSS, please visit the company's web site at www.L-3com.com/acss.