Textron Awarded Contract for 82 Additional M1200 Armored Knight Vehicles

Released on Wednesday, March 19, 2008

New Orleans, LA - March 19, 2008 - Textron Marine & Land, an operating unit of Textron Systems, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, has been awarded a $58 million contract modification by the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command (TACOM) to manufacture 82 additional Armored Security Vehicle (ASV) variants for the M1200 Armored Knight.

The M1200 Armored Knight is an ASV variant equipped with a sensor package that is used to locate and designate targets for indirect fire and laser guided weapons. The Armored Knight is the only system in production with target accuracy equivalent to the delivery accuracies of today's precision-guided munitions, such as JDAM and Excalibur. The specially configured ASV is used by Field Artillery Combat Observation and Lasing Teams (COLT) to carry out its missions.

Tom Walmsley, general manager, Textron Marine & Land said, "We're excited to be awarded this contract to manufacture additional ASVs for the M1200 Armored Knight and provide even more protection to our soldiers. This additional variant of the ASV truly shows the versatility of this product. We're proud of the field record of the Armored Knight variant, and the ASV."

The ASV is a light, agile wheeled combat vehicle with 360 degree armor protection against small arms fire that can withstand anti-tank land mines under any wheel and artillery burst fragments overhead.

The ASV vehicle will be provided to DRS Technologies, the prime contractor for the Armored Knight responsible for the integration of the sensor and Mission Equipment Package. The total requirement for the program has been listed at 531 vehicles. In 2007, 19 vehicles were delivered to the customer and it is currently anticipated that 83 will be delivered in 2008 with the remainder to follow in 2009 and beyond.