CONCORD, Mass., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Starmet Corporation (Nasdaq: STMT),
formerly Nuclear Metals, Inc., a Concord, Massachusetts manufacturer of
advanced technology metallurgical products, today announced that its Aerocast
division was awarded an add-on contract valued at approximately $1.1 million
from Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT), Electronics and Missiles
Division, for use of its patented Beralcast(R) alloy for the U.S. Army
Comanche Helicopter, the world's most advanced stealth helicopter.  This new
$1.1 million hardware contract augments approximately $8.1 million in existing
pre-production funding for the Electro-Optical Sensor System (EOSS) which
incorporates 58 Beralcast(R) parts.
    The RAH-66 Comanche program is one of the U.S. Army's high priority
development programs and includes a team of leading aerospace manufacturers
led by Boeing Philadelphia and Sikorsky Aircraft Inc. a subsidiary of United
Technologies.  Starmet is manufacturing advanced structural components for the
helicopter made from its patented Beralcast(R) alloy.  The first prototype
Comanche is undergoing a rigorous flight testing schedule.  According to
Lockheed Martin, the helicopter has become the centerpiece of the Army's 21st
century fighting force as the quarterback on the digital battlefield.  The
Army has stated a requirement for more than 1,000 Comanches.
    Starmet's Beralcast(R) is a beryllium-aluminum alloy that can be produced
in near net and net shape cast forms.  The unique characteristics of the
Beralcast(R) alloy make it possible, for the first time, to produce complex,
high precision investment cast parts from beryllium-aluminum alloys.
Beralcast(R) is 22% lighter and three times greater in stiffness than
aluminum, making it ideally suited for the Comanche and other aerospace
applications.
    The significance of this award is that it re-establishes continuity in the
Comanche Program, resuming work that was previously halted for nine months by
the Army due to unplanned fiscal 1997 program funding redirection.  Starmet
Aerocast, a wholly owned subsidiary of Starmet Corporation, is a manufacturer
of light-weight metal alloy products for military and government applications.

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