Orbital Wins National Technology Award

    PERTH, Australia, May 17 Orbital Engine Corporation
is proud to announce it has won the Chairman's Award in the 2001
Australian Technology Awards, announced in Sydney last night.
    The Chairman's Award, presented by Denis Hanley AM, is designed to
encourage Australia's emerging technologists.  The criteria for judging the
awards include the level of innovation, the scientific credibility of the
technology, the response of consumers, the social and community benefits and
the potential to commercialise and export the technology.
    Orbital's core technology is the Orbital Combustion Process (OCP), a
direct fuel injection system that substantially improves the performance of
conventional two-stroke and four-stroke engines.  Specifically, OCP achieves a
unique combination of fuel economy improvement and emissions reduction and has
been applied in the automotive, marine and recreation, and motorcycle markets.
    Orbital's Executive Director Business Development Ken Johnsen said the
award was a credit to the many people who had worked at Orbital since it was
founded in 1972.
    "The technology has been progressively refined over that period and is now
used successfully in a range of products worldwide.  We are looking forward to
the launch of many more products incorporating OCP," he said.
    OCP incorporates 140 individual inventions, which are protected by more
than 1000 patents and patent applications worldwide.
    OCP is employed in a range of products commercially available today,
including:

    * Mercury Marine's family of OptiMax outboard engines;

    * Tohatsu's TLDI outboard engines;

    * Bombardier's award winning SEA-DOO RX DI and GTX DI personal watercraft
      and two jet boats;

    * Aprilia's acclaimed SR 50 DITECH scooter; and

    * Sundiro's HI-JETOR scooter.

    In addition, a number of manufacturers are working with Orbital to apply
the technology in two-stroke and four-stroke automotive engines.  These
include Saab, which has announced that OCP will be used in its next generation
of automotive engines.
    An example of the benefits of OCP is provided by Aprilia's DITECH engine,
which is based on OCP.  In comparison to a conventional two-stroke 50cc
engine, the DITECH engine:

    * improves fuel consumption by 40%;

    * maintains performance equal to or better than best-in-class engines;

    * cuts oil consumption by 60%;

    * reduces pollutant emissions by 80%; and

    * eliminates emissions of exhaust smoke and unburnt oil particles.

    Orbital is a leading international developer of engine technologies using
direct in-cylinder fuel injection and lean-burn systems for enhanced fuel
economy and lower emissions.  The company serves the worldwide automotive,
marine, recreational and motorcycle markets.  Headquartered in Perth, Western
Australia, Orbital stock is traded on the Australian Stock Exchange (OEC), the
New York Stock Exchange (OE) as well as the Berlin (ORE) and Frankfurt (OREA)
Exchanges.

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