ST. LOUIS, May 28, 2008 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] today announced that it submitted a bid to the U.S. Air Force earlier this month for the Self-Awareness Space Situational Awareness (SASSA) program.

The program, valued at approximately $30 million, will demonstrate a system that detects threats to U.S. space assets using instruments hosted on satellites. A contract award is expected later this year.

"Boeing's solution provides a low-risk approach that offers full mission capability," said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager for Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. "We are combining our space experience and understanding of the mission with our hardware and software expertise to support the Air Force in demonstrating the technologies necessary for an operational, common-threat warning system."

As part of Boeing's commitment to the program, the company completed a demonstration of its system's compatibility with a host vehicle and with multiple threat-warning instruments. The success of the demonstration confirmed Boeing is providing a high level of technology readiness and -- coupled with the company's extensive experience as a provider of government satellites and hosted payloads -- ensures Boeing's solution will meet current and future requirements.

Boeing is a leading manufacturer of geostationary satellites with designs that support mobile communications, weather forecasting, global positioning and Military communications. The company recently marked 2,500 years of accumulated on-orbit satellite service. Boeing has built one-third of all satellites operating today.