Wilmington, Mass. – April 20, 2005 - – Textron Systems announced today that its Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW) was successfully dropped from a U.S. Air Force F-16 over littoral targets during recent testing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. One SFW hit both of the test targets - stationary 36 ft. Mini Armored Troop Carriers (MATCs). The SFW was successful in achieving multiple, hull piercing hits on both targets. Textron Systems newly developed target recognition algorithms permit individual Skeets™ to recognize and adjust to a littoral environment while maintaining current land combat proven capability. Subsequent testing is planned for moving maritime targets using a B1-B aircraft's Ground Moving Target Tracking (GMTT) radar.

Tom Harrington, Textron Systems, vice president, air launched weapons said, "The Sensor Fuzed Weapon has proven its success on land. It is a natural extension to be looking at its capabilities for maritime targets. This test demonstrates the ability of SFW to attack and defeat multiple targets at sea." "The weapon's ability to hold multiple targets at risk with a single SFW is a true force multiplier which reduces the exposure to our aircrews," said Lt. Col. Richard Mountain, program manager for SFW with the U.S.A.F. Area Attack Systems Group. "This is true spiral advancement for SFW. A simple targeting algorithm change will increase the target set that this combat-proven weapon can be successfully employed against." The SFW contains 10 BLU-108 Submunitions. Each BLU-108 has 4 cylinder-shaped anti-armor penetrators called Skeets for a total of 40 lethal Skeets per weapon. A single SFW can cover up to 30 acres or 121,000 square meters. The weapon can be deployed from a number of aircraft including A-10, B-1, B-2, B-52, F-15 and F-16. In order to prevent hazardous unexploded ordnance, the Skeet is designed with two self-destruct modes in the event that it fails to engage a qualified target. If for any reason the redundant self-destruct mechanisms fail, the Skeet contains a self-deactivation feature that renders the weapon harmless minutes after deployment.