Order Anchors Esterline Subsidiary in New Market

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho, November 1, 2002--Advanced Input Devices, an Esterline Technologies (NYSE/ESLhttp://www.esterline.com) subsidiary today announced that it has secured a twelve-month, $10.9 million dollar contract to produce state-of-the-art master vehicle light switches for one of the largest suppliers of weapons parts to the United States military, the Defense Supply Center Columbus, a branch of the Defense Logistics Agency.

The long-anticipated order elevates Advanced Input, known primarily for designing and manufacturing keyboards and input devices for original equipment manufacturers in the medical and electronics industry, to the growing defense arena.

Brad Lawrence, Advanced Input president, said, “…the new light switches are a highly desirable feature for all military vehicles.” The current switch was designed in the 1950’s and is impossible to see in the dark without a flashlight. The new device, which is ruggedized for maximum fault tolerance, helps military vehicles to run undetected in the dark.

Lawrence said, “… our switch is backlit using special filters that prevent infrared light from escaping the switch. This provides a critical defense feature – if you’re hiding, you don’t want to accidentally light up your vehicle.

The initial award by Defense Supply Center Columbus will begin the process of retrofitting a large number of fielded US Army vehicles, including light, medium and heavy trucks, earth moving equipment and various tracked vehicles. Advanced Input has also been awarded contracts for the switch from original equipment manufacturers for new production applications.

“This is a great example of technical solutions selling—we help a customer solve a tough problem, perform, and become the go-to-guys on future opportunities,” said Chris Newman, Advanced Input’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “We feel good about the potential of this program to lead into future work along these lines.”

Advanced Input Devices designs, develops, and manufactures standard and custom keyboards and input devices for the medical, electronics and defense industries. Esterline is a leading specialty manufacturer of highly engineered products serving aerospace and defense markets.