Interim Management Statement

6 May 2010

Cobham INTERIM MANAGEMENT STATEMENT

At the Annual General Meeting of Cobham plc ('Cobham' or 'the Group') at 12.00 noon today the following Interim Management Statement will be delivered:

Current trading and outlook

"In the first three months to 31 March, Cobham's order intake was slightly ahead of the Board's expectations with an improving book-to-bill ratio, but this has not yet fully compensated for the general slow down in orders experienced towards the end of last year. At the end of the first quarter of 2010, the Group's order book was £2.5bn.

Cobham's defence and security businesses have started the year more slowly than anticipated, due to delays in the award of certain US military contracts. This has led to a modest organic decline in defence and security revenue. Overall, the Group's commercial businesses have been trading slightly above levels seen in the second half of last year, but remain down on the comparative period. Group earnings have been in line with the Board's expectations of flat trading in the first half.

The Board expects the Group to make progress during the year. However, the rate of revenue and earnings growth in the defence and security businesses will be dependent on the release of delayed US contract awards. As previously stated in the March 2010 preliminary results, earnings will be more than usually weighted to the second half.

The Board remains confident of continuing progress over the medium term due to the Group's leading edge technologies that provide critical capabilities in areas of key defence priorities, in the national security market and in faster growing geographies.

Operational update

Cobham has announced a number of material events and transactions in the year-to-date including:

·; The award in January of a development contract from the US Navy's Surface Warfare Centre for the Band 5/6 Replacement Amplifier worth up to $US11.5 million;

·; In February, a contract for the manufacture of advanced composite components and assemblies for the Sikorsky CH-53K helicopter worth up to US$25 million;

·; Further production contracts in April from The Boeing Company to supply more than 500 carriage systems for the Small Diameter Bomb programme, with shipments expected in 2010;

·; Contracts in April totalling £12m for the upgrade and support of key air traffic control systems for the UK Ministry of Defence through to at least 2015;

·; In April, award of a multi-source Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract by a major US Federal agency, worth up to US$74 million over five years for supply of wireless internet protocol mesh systems, hardware decoders and microwave antennas.

Financial position

Strong cash generation from operations in the period was offset by foreign exchange movements, as most of Cobham's debt is US dollar denominated as a natural hedge against assets and earnings denominated in dollars. As a result, net debt was £426 million (31 December 2009: £413 million) at the end of the first quarter".

Board changes

As previously announced David Turner, Cobham's Chairman will retire from the Board at the conclusion of today's Annual General Meeting. John Devaney, currently an independent Non-executive Director and Chairman designate, will become Chairman with immediate effect. The Board would like to thank David for his exceptional contribution as Chairman and wishes him well in his new role as Chairman of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Cobham's interim results for the half year ending 30 June 2010 will be announced on 5 August 2010.

- ends -

ENQUIRIES

Cobham plc +44 (0)1202 857738 (on 6 May)

Andy Stevens, Chief Executive Officer +44 (0)1202 882020

Warren Tucker, Chief Financial Officer +44 (0)1202 882020

Julian Wais, Director of Investor Relations +44 (0)1202 857998

Susan Ellis, Senior Communications Advisor +44 (0)7836 522722

NOTES

1. Cobham's products and services have been at the heart of sophisticated military and civil systems for more than 75 years, keeping people safe, improving communications, and enhancing the capability of land, sea, air and space platforms. The Company has four divisions employing more than 12,000 people on five continents, with customers and partners in over 100 countries and annual revenue of some £1.9bn/$3 billion.

2. This document contains 'forward-looking statements' with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business of Cobham and to certain of Cobham's plans and objectives with respect to these items.

Forward-looking statements are sometimes but not always identified by their use of a date in the future or such words as 'anticipates', 'aims', 'due', 'could', 'may', 'should', 'expects', 'believes', 'intends', 'plans', 'targets', 'goal', or 'estimates'. By their very nature, forward-looking statements are inherently unpredictable, speculative and involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or will occur in the future.

There are various factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, changes in the economies, political situations and markets in which the Group operates; changes in government priorities due to programme reviews or revisions to strategic objectives; changes in the regulatory or competition frameworks in which the Group operates; the impact of legal or other proceedings against or which affect the Group; changes to or delays in programmes in which the Group is involved; the completion of acquisitions and divestitures and changes in exchange rates.

All written or verbal forward-looking statements, made in this document or made subsequently, which are attributable to Cobham or any other member of the Group or persons acting on their behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the factors referred to above. Cobham does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.