AAI and DiSTI to Develop F-35 Lightning II Aircraft Systems Maintenance Trainer

Released on Monday, April 28, 2008

Hunt Valley, Maryland � April 28, 2008 � AAI Corporation, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, AAI Services, has received a competitive award from Lockheed Martin to design and develop the aircraft systems maintenance trainer (ASMT) in support of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

AAI teamed with The DiSTI Corporation of Orlando, Fla., a global leader in the development of Human Machine Interface software for businesses, governments and the military, to propose a training media solution that combines realistic aircraft simulation with high fidelity 2-D/3-D images in a classroom training environment. The ASMT will provide training for student maintainers on ground operation, maintenance and testing procedures for the F-35 aircraft systems. The work will be performed at AAI Services' Charleston, S.C., Training and Simulation facility and at DiSTI in Orlando, and delivered to the Integrated Training Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The ASMT is one element of the F-35 Training System, a family of training devices that is being developed by Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training & Support.

"With the award of the F-35 ASMT Program, AAI is now developing training devices for three of this country's most modern weapon systems. We currently provide C-17 Globemaster III and F-22 Raptor trainers to the U.S. Air Force," said president of AAI Services Paul Lavin. "AAI has a rich history of supporting its many Department of Defense customers with complete training solutions and services � from sophisticated systems and simulators, to classroom training and interactive electronic technical manuals, to complete service throughout the product life cycle. "