The option will ensure production of Delta II motors through the middle of 2001. If additional options to the basic contract are exercised, Delta production could extend through 2006. The separate production rate increase calls for a 20-percent step up in deliveries of both Delta II and Delta III motors.

Travis E. Campbell, director of Commercial Launch Vehicle Programs (CLV), said the Alliant Delta team is ready to meet increased orders and accelerated production schedules.

"The market trends bode well for our solid propulsion and composite structures businesses," said Paul A. Ross, group vice president, Space and Strategic Systems. "As a world leader in these areas, we are well positioned to take full advantage of the growth in the commercial space launch industry," added Ross.

A recent study by the U.S. Department of Transportation projects that more than 460 medium- and heavy-geosynchronous orbit communications spacecraft will be developed and launched throughout the world between now and 2010.

The Delta II medium-lift vehicle is derived from the Delta family of rockets built and launched by Boeing (formerly McDonnell Douglas) since 1960. Commercial customers include Hughes Space and Communications International, Inc., Space Systems/Loral, Matra Marconi Space, and Motorola, Inc. Delta II missions for the U.S. Air Force have included the launch of all 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System constellation plus replacement satellites. Delta II rockets also have launched numerous NASA missions, including the recent Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor voyages.

Designed to meet a growing lift requirement for a wide variety of missions, the Boeing Delta III vehicle provides a low-Earth orbit payload capability of 18,400 pounds and a geosynchronous transfer orbit capability of 8,400 pounds � nearly twice the payload of the Delta II vehicle. The first launch of the Delta III is planned for mid 1998.

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Moscow (AFP) September 13 - US and Russian defence ministers agreed Monday to jointly monitor missile launch data as a safeguard against Y2K-related mishaps in a modest step toward improving strained relations between the world's two nuclear heavyweights.