Ceradyne, Inc. Receives $7.1 Million SAPI Armor Order; Expedited Order for U.S. Army

    COSTA MESA, Calif.--July 17, 2003--Ceradyne, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded a new order for approximately $7.1 million of small arms protective inserts (SAPI) by the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia for the U.S. Army. This new order is on an expedited basis and is scheduled to be completed before the end of 2003.
    Joel Moskowitz, Ceradyne chief executive officer, commented, "We expect to meet the expedited deliveries of this new SAPI order because of the additional capacity which was recently brought on stream within our 41,000 sq. ft. Irvine facility. We anticipate that this armor assembly area dedicated to SAPI will be able to not only meet this current order but future potential armor orders as well."
    Moskowitz further commented, "We are very pleased to receive this order. Furthermore, this order is not part of the currently pending competitive procurement for a new SAPI program, which we anticipate will be announced within the next few months."
    Ceradyne develops, manufactures and markets advanced technical ceramic products and components for defense, industrial, automotive/diesel and commercial applications. Additional information about the Company can be found at www.ceradyne.com.

    Except for the historical information contained herein, certain matters discussed in this news release constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. The Company may use words such as "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "expects," "intends," "future," and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's prospectus dated July 1, 2003 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.