NovAtel Inc. Awarded Contract for SBAS Equipment for Indian GAGAN Prog

    Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

    CALGARY, Alberta--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2005--NovAtel Inc. (NASDAQ:NGPS), a precise positioning technology company, announced today that an order for additional Space Based Augmentation System (SBAS) equipment was received from Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) in support of the Indian GAGAN program.

    This latest contract with Raytheon follows on from an award to Raytheon by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) of a contract for the ground-based elements of the GPS and GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) Technology Demonstration System (TDS), in November 2004. NovAtel will supply receiver elements of these ground-based elements, which will be included in eight Indian reference stations, an Indian master control center, and an Indian land uplink station.

    According to Raytheon, "GAGAN-TDS, a cooperative effort between Raytheon and ISRO, will usher in a new era in civil navigation through use of the space-based augmentation system. When completed, GAGAN will augment the standard positioning signals from the GPS satellites with an additional signal to improve the accuracy, integrity, continuity, and availability of the aircraft receiver. The GAGAN project is part of a world-wide movement toward space-based navigation, which has been endorsed by the International Civil Aviation Organization. It will increase safety and efficiency by allowing precision approaches to all airports and direct routing between destinations."

    NovAtel has developed and produced the new SBAS reference receiver for use in the US WAAS network under contracts with Raytheon Company over the past two years. Deliveries of this equipment have been underway for approximately 18 months and the equipment is being fielded to expand the existing ground network in Alaska, Canada and Mexico.

    According to Tony Murfin, NovAtel's Vice President, Business Development, "NovAtel is pleased to be an important part of the Indian GAGAN program. With the successful completion of this initial GAGAN test project, India will join the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan and China as one of the countries operating NovAtel SBAS reference receiver equipment, and will be the first outside the US to receive the latest generation of NovAtel reference receiver equipment."

    This equipment is scheduled to ship to Raytheon during the first half of this year.

    About NovAtel Inc.

    NovAtel designs, markets and sells high-precision GPS and other positioning components and sub-systems used in a wide variety of commercial applications principally in the aviation, geomatics (surveying and mapping), mining, precision agriculture, marine and defence industries. NovAtel's solutions combine hardware, such as receivers and antennas, with software to enable its customers to fully integrate the Company's high-precision GPS technology into their respective products and systems. The Company is focused on supplying core high-precision positioning technology to OEMs and system integrators who build systems for various end market applications. For more information, visit www.novatel.com.

    Certain statements in this news release, including those about the Company's expected shipments into the Gagan program, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on management's current expectations regarding NovAtel's future business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as ''anticipate'', ''believe'', ''expect'', ''may'', ''could'', ''will'', ''potential'', ''intend'', ''estimate'', ''should'', ''plan'', ''predict'' or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including certification and market acceptance of NovAtel's new products, impact and timing of large orders, pricing pressures in the market and other competitive factors, maintaining technological leadership, and other factors described in our Form 20-F and other SEC filings, many of which are beyond the control of NovAtel. These factors should be considered carefully and undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and NovAtel assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.

    NOVATEL INC. (Nasdaq:NGPS)

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CONTACT: NovAtel Inc. Tony Murfin (403) 295-4512 OR NovAtel Inc. Sonia Ross (403) 295-4532 Website: www.novatel.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL CANADA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOURCE: NOVATEL INC.

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