Ball Aerospace Wins Warfighter Interface Research & Technology Operations Contract

DAYTON, Ohio, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been awarded a five-year $49M contract to support the Warfighter Interface Division of the Air Force Research Laboratory's (AFRL) Human Effectiveness Directorate.

"We are pleased to be fulfilling a contract that allows Ball Aerospace to support the AFRL's critical mission to further human factors research," said Jeff Osterkamp, vice president and general manager for Ball Aerospace's National Defense Solutions business unit.

The Human Effectiveness Directorate is one of five AFRL directorates headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Approximately 50 employees at the Ball Aerospace Dayton, Ohio location will execute the contract, along with Ball's teammates: Aptima, Bevilacqua Research Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton, JXT Applications, The Design Knowledge Company, and Wright State University.

AFRL is the Air Force's organization dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of warfighting technologies for our nation's air, space, and cyberspace forces. The Warfighter Interface Division's technology enables men and women in uniform to understand the nature of the battlespace, anticipate enemy intentions, make quick and effective decisions, and synchronize air and ground forces across the battlespace. Ball Aerospace will provide scientists, engineers, and warfighting subject matter experts to support this critical research and technology transition.

"Ball's expertise for this contract will help sustain the Warfighter Interface Division's mission to promote 'optimal decision making at all levels and identify better equipment, procedures and techniques for the nation's warfighters," added Osterkamp.

Core technology areas of the Warfighter Interface Division include: supervisory control of unmanned aerial vehicles; computational and knowledge-based representations of human, organizational, cultural, and societal structures; virtual audio displays; 3-D audio; human-centered decision support systems; interfaces to support human-human and human-machine collaboration; and advanced visualizations to enhance the human's ability to assimilate and understand information. The Division has collaborative relationships with academia, other military services and government agencies, and commercial enterprises.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions of important national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. For more than 50 years, Ball Aerospace has been responsible for numerous technological and scientific 'firsts' and acts as a technology innovator for the aerospace market.

Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) is a supplier of high-quality metal and plastic packaging products for beverage, food and household products customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 15,500 people worldwide and reported 2007 sales of $7.4 billion.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking" statements concerning future events and financial performance. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Key risks and uncertainties are summarized in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Exhibit 99.2 in our Form 10-K, which are available at our Web site and at http://www.sec.gov. Factors that might affect our packaging segments include fluctuation in product demand and preferences; availability and cost of raw materials, including recent significant increases in resin, steel, aluminum and energy costs, and the ability to pass such increases on to customers; competitive packaging availability, pricing and substitution; changes in climate and weather; crop yields; competitive activity; failure to achieve anticipated productivity improvements or production cost reductions, including our beverage can end project; mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws; changes in major customer or supplier contracts or loss of a major customer or supplier; and changes in foreign exchange rates, tax rates and activities of foreign subsidiaries. Factors that might affect our aerospace segment include: funding, authorization, availability and returns of government and commercial contracts; and delays, extensions and technical uncertainties affecting segment contracts. Factors that might affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: accounting changes; changes in senior management; successful or unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; integration of recently acquired businesses; regulatory action or laws including tax, environmental and workplace safety; governmental investigations; technological developments and innovations; goodwill impairment; antitrust, patent and other litigation; strikes; labor cost changes; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; pension changes; reduced cash flow; interest rates affecting our debt; and changes to unaudited results due to statutory audits or other effects.

SOURCE Ball Corporation

Released February 7, 2008