AES Drax Awards Data Systems & Solutions C & I Refurbishment Contract

    RESTON, Va., April 18 Data Systems & Solutions has won a
major control and instrumentation refurbishment contract from AES Drax Power
Ltd. to replace the main turbine governor and generator excitation control
equipment at the AES Drax coal fired power plant near Selby, North Yorkshire,
England.
    The new systems provided by Data Systems & Solutions, the joint venture
between Rolls-Royce and SAIC, will replace obsolete equipment and will
maximize availability while reducing maintenance time and costs.  The three-
year contract, from AES Drax Power Ltd., will cover the design, supply and
installation of the turbine governor, main boiler feed pump governor and
generator excitation control equipment at all three units of the power plant.
Data Systems & Solutions' high availability, triplex modular redundant Digital
Signal Processing (DSP) system will be utilized on all applications.
    Data Systems & Solutions' excitation control equipment, which uses the
same low module count, triplex modular hardware design as the electro
hydraulic governor and turbine protection, trip and test systems, will also be
part of the newly established system.  It is designed specifically to address
AES Drax's concern with maximum availability, low lifetime cost, obsolescence,
open system architecture, improved human machine interface (HMI) and an open,
modular and scaleable system with high reliability.
    The first unit is due for commissioning in August 2001.  Supervision of
the contract will be performed at the Data Systems & Solutions Gateshead,
England office.

    Data Systems & Solutions is equally owned by Rolls-Royce plc and Science
Applications International Corporation (SAIC) and began operations in February
1999.  The company provides predictive maintenance technologies and integrated
asset management solutions to aerospace, defense, energy and process industry
clients to help enable industry professionals to focus on their core business.
Data Systems & Solutions employs approximately 500 information technologists,
engineers, and other professionals in the United States, the United Kingdom,
and the Czech Republic.