Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has been selected by a Northrop Grumman Corporation and Raytheon Company team to provide the Command and Control Battle Management Communications (C2BMC) mobile S-Band Transmit/Receive phased array antennas, and to provide the Interceptor Antennas in support of the Kinetic Energy Interceptors (KEI) Contract.

On December 3, 2003, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency awarded a Northrop Grumman-led team the prime contract for the KEI program, to provide the United States with the ability to destroy hostile missiles at their most vulnerable stage, the boost/ascent phase of flight. The team is now moving forward with developing and testing this critical boost phase element of the Agency's global layered missile defense system.

Ball Aerospace President and CEO, David L. Taylor said, "Ball Aerospace is proud to be part of the KEI team contributing to the improvement of national security and helping to develop our country's Ballistic Missile Defense System."

KEI will complement the other boost, midcourse and terminal defense interceptor programs currently under development while providing a land-based capability that can be adapted quickly and easily to sea-based platforms.

Ball Aerospace is expected to develop and manufacture the C2BMC mobile S-Band Transmit and Receive phased array antennas for Northrop Grumman and develop the KEI Interceptor Antenna for Raytheon. The Northrop Grumman development will span approximately 5 to 6 years and the Raytheon development will be completed over approximately a year and a half.

Ball Aerospace conducts domestic and international business in the defense, civil and commercial space arenas, providing best value and innovative solutions. The company supports national policy-makers, the military services, NASA and other U.S. Government agencies, as well as numerous aerospace industry companies.

Ball Corporation is one of the world's leading suppliers of metal and plastic packaging to the beverage and food industries. The company also owns Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. With the addition of Ball Packaging Europe, acquired in December 2002, Ball expects to report 2003 sales of approximately $4.9 billion, of which approximately $4.4 billion will come from its two packaging segments and $500 million from its aerospace and technologies segment.

Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news release contains "forward-looking" statements. Actual results or outcomes may differ materially from those expressed or implied. As time passes, the relevance and accuracy of forward-looking statements contained in this release may change. The company currently does not intend to update any particular forward-looking statement except as it deems necessary at quarterly or annual release of earnings. Please refer to the Form 10-Q filed by Ball Corporation on November 10, 2003, for a summary of key risk factors that could affect actual results or outcomes. Factors that might affect the packaging segments of the company are: fluctuation in consumer and customer demand; competitive packaging material availability, pricing and substitution; the weather; fruit, vegetable and fishing yields; company and industry productive capacity and competitive activity; lack of productivity improvement or production cost reductions; regulatory action or laws, including the German mandatory deposit or other restrictive packaging laws and environmental and workplace safety regulations; availability and cost of raw materials, energy and transportation; the ability or inability to pass on to customers changes in these costs, particularly resin, steel and aluminum; pricing and ability or inability to sell scrap; international business risks (including foreign exchange rates and tax rates) particularly in the United States, Europe and in developing countries such as China and Brazil; and the effect of LIFO accounting on earnings. Factors that may affect the aerospace segment are: funding, authorization and availability of government contracts and the nature and continuation of those contracts; and technical uncertainty associated with aerospace segment contracts. Factors that could affect the company as a whole include those listed plus: successful and unsuccessful acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures and the integration activities associated therewith including the integration and operation of the business of Schmalbach-Lubeca AG, now known as Ball Packaging Europe; the inability to purchase the company's common stock; insufficient or reduced cash flow; regulatory action or laws including those related to corporate governance and financial reporting, regulations and standards; actual and estimated business consolidation and investment costs and the net realizable value of assets associated with these activities; goodwill impairment; changes in generally accepted accounting principles or their interpretation; litigation; antitrust, intellectual property, consumer and other issues; strikes; boycotts; increases in various employee benefits and labor costs, specifically pension, medical and health care costs incurred in the countries in which Ball has operations; rates of return projected and earned on assets of the company's defined benefit retirement plans; interest rates and level of company debt, including floating rate debt; terrorist activities, war or catastrophic events that disrupt or impact production, supply or pricing of the company's goods and services, including raw materials and energy costs, or disrupt or impact the credit and financing of the company's businesses; and U.S. and foreign economic conditions.

SOURCE: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.