T2CAS™ MAKES ITS FIRST FLIGHT

ACSS King Air C90 Fitted with Safety Avionics Systems Includes New Terrain & Traffic Avoidance System

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

PHOENIX, October 23, 2002 – ACSS, an L-3 Communications & Thales Company, completed the first flight of its new King Air C90 this week. The aircraft will be operated out of Deer Valley airport in north Phoenix, and has been fitted with ACSS safety avionics products, including T²CAS™, the new combined TCAS (traffic alert and collision avoidance system) and TAWS (terrain awareness warning system) product from ACSS that is scheduled to certify by the end of this year.

The first flight of the aircraft included preliminary testing of the TAWS function of T²CAS. This represents the completion of another important step in the development and certification of this breakthrough safety avionics product.

Sales of T²CAS continue to increase with contracts already in place with several prominent carriers, including Northwest Airlines, Federal Express, Aeromexico and Virgin Express, as well as the U.S. Customs Service for their fleet of P-3 aircraft.

“The commencement of our flight testing is an important step in the development of T²CAS,” said Joe Hoffman, president of ACSS. “With the number of orders we have already received, we’re very anxious to continue in our development and certification efforts.”

T²CAS is designed to prevent Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) accidents. CFIT accidents occur when an aircraft is inadvertently flown into terrain. Reducing CFIT accidents means saving lives – not only of people in the aircraft, but also people on the ground.

Unlike other TAWS products, T²CAS is a true terrain avoidance system that bases its operator alerts on an aircraft’s actual ability to climb at a given moment – not based on predetermined computations that are the same for all aircraft at all times. T²CAS also reduces weight, power consumption, space requirements, and wiring because it’s a combined TCAS and TAWS solution.

In addition to the T²CAS, the ACSS has also installed its RCZ-852 Mode S data link transponder and the TCAS 2000, aviation’s most advanced traffic alert and collision avoidance system onboard more than 6,000 commercial and military aircraft throughout the world.

ACSS (Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems), an L-3 Communications & Thales Company, is a leader in safety avionics systems. ACSS products include the TCAS 2000 and TCAS 1500 traffic alert and collision avoidance systems, a family of Mode S transponders, the T2CAS, a combined traffic and terrain collision avoidance system, and MASS, an enhanced TCAS system for military operations. More than 8,000 units of ACSS’s TCAS 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.

Headquartered in Velizy (France), Thales Avionics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thales, is the European leader and world-renowned partner in avionics and cabin electronics and a world leader in professional electronics for civil and defense markets. To learn more about Thales Avionics, please visit the company's web site at www.thales-avionics.com.

L-3 Communications Display Systems specializes in the design, development and manufacture of display systems for the world's most demanding applications. Their product line includes a wide variety of displays and processors available to meet a multitude of system architectures for airborne, shipboard and ground-based applications. To learn more about L-3 Display Systems, please visit the company's web site at www.L-3Com.com/displays.

Headquartered in New York City, L-3 Communications is a leading merchant supplier of secure communications systems and products, avionics and ocean products, training products, microwave components and telemetry, instrumentation, space and wireless products. Its customers include the Department of Defense, selected US government intelligence agencies, aerospace prime contractors and commercial telecommunications and wireless customers. To learn more about L-3 Communications, please visit the company's web site at www.L-3Com.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this news release are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements set forth above involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any such statement, including the risks and uncertainties discussed in the company's Safe Harbor Compliance Statement for Forward-looking Statements included in the company's recent filings, including Forms 10-K and 10-Q, with the Securities and Exchange Commission.