BEIQ Bei Technologies (MM)

BEI Technologies to Provide Rate Sensor Assembly for Flight Control on Bell Helicopter Upgrade SAN FRANCISCO, July 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BEI Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:BEIQ) announced that BEI's Systron Donner Inertial Division (SDID), in Concord, California was awarded a contract to provide a single dual-axis rate sensor assembly to Bell Helicopter, a Textron company, for the USMC H-1 Upgrade Program. The assembly, which employs SDID's QRS11 high performance quartz MEMS rate sensors, will be used in an upgrade of the flight control avionics. The scope of this contract includes the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase and an option for both lots of the Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phases. SDID's single dual-axis rate sensor assembly was chosen because of the company's extensive history in aircraft avionics, and because of the reliability and performance-to-cost of the QRS11 family of products. Systron Donner Inertial Division (SDID) leads the industry as a developer, innovator and supplier of advanced inertial sensors and systems. Over 9 million MEMS inertial sensors have been delivered over the past decade for guidance, control, stabilization, and attitude reference and navigation applications. "We are very pleased to expand our application of the QRS11 to this important new program with Bell Helicopter. This award aligns with our goal of increasing our presence in the Aerospace and Defense Marketplace," said Dr. Asad M. Madni, President and COO of BEI Technologies, Inc. SDID's patented dual-ended quartz tuning fork technology is ideal for aircraft applications. The QRS11 exhibits excellent bias stability over temperature and survives the most rugged environments, including military helicopter applications. In addition to its capabilities, the QRS11 technology has no inherent wear-out modes for long service life. The QRS11 has been adopted in the operational avionics systems of more than 90 types of military and civil aircraft, both fixed and rotary wing. BEI Technologies, Inc. (the "Company" or "Technologies") is an established manufacturer of electronic sensors, motors, actuators, optical encoders and motion control products used for factory and office automation, medical equipment, military, aviation and space systems. In addition, sales to manufacturers of transportation equipment including automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment have become a significant addition to the Company's business in recent years. The Company's micromachined quartz yaw rate sensors are being used in advanced vehicle stability control systems and a significant increase in the production of those sensors had been in progress from the middle of 1998 to fiscal 2004 except for a decrease in production in fiscal 2002 due to increased competition. The Company has transitioned to its next generation of automotive inertial quartz based sensor products, remotely mounted multi-sensor clusters with CAN Bus and a multi-rate sensor package suitable for incorporation into electronic systems modules. The Company also manufactures electronic steering wheel position sensors, seat-memory modules, throttle position sensors, pressure sensors and other devices used in transportation systems. DATASOURCE: BEI Technologies, Inc. CONTACT: John LaBoskey, Senior Vice President/CFO of BEI Technologies, Inc., +1-415-956-4477 Web site: http://www.bei-tech.com/

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