Multi-Mix Microtechnology® Named Top 10 Product

WEST CALDWELL, NJ (May 18, 1999) - Merrimac Industries, Inc. ("Merrimac") (Amex: MRM), announced today that its Multi-Mix® three-dimensional circuit design and fabrication technology has been accorded top honors by the Editors of Microwaves & RF Magazine, a leading publication serving the RF, microwave and wireless telecommunications industries. The magazine, which serves more than 57,000 design engineers throughout the world, judged Multi-Mixä to be one of the most significant products introduced in 1998.

The top products of the year are chosen by Microwaves & RF after reviewing thousands of major introductions that take place during any given year. They are judged on their technological merit, their success in satisfying a perceived market need, and their potential positive impact on designers of RF and microwave systems.

Mason N. Carter, Chairman and CEO stated: "We are honored to be recognized by this prestigious RF Microwave publication. Multi-Mix Microtechnology® bridges the transition from conventional, bulky architecture to three-dimensional multilayer designs at a fraction of the size, weight, and cost. This technology enables Merrimac to provide components, subassemblies, and multifunction modules that offer practical solutions and real value for our customers in commercial, satellite communications and defense markets."

According to Jack Browne, Publisher/Editor of Microwaves & RF magazine, Multi-Mix® technology represents a significant advance in high-frequency circuit design. "Multi-Mix® allows microwave designers to think in terms of three dimensions, rather than the traditional planar approach," noted Browne. "The technology enables designers to significantly shrink their circuitry, at great savings in volume and weight," he added.

Multi-Mix®is a microwave design and manufacturing process based on fluoropolymer composite substrates that are fusion-bonded together into a planar, multilayer structure. The fusion process provides a homogeneous dielectric medium that yields superior electrical performance at microwave and millimeter-wave frequencies. The bonded layers can contain embedded semiconductors, monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs), etched resistors, circuit patterns, and plated-through via holes.

The resulting circuit becomes a self-contained surface-mount module that requires no additional packaging and can be placed on the circuit board automatically with standard pick-and-place equipment. The small-outline, low-profile structure created with Multi-Mix® technology is lightweight, and the surface-mount format is compatible with microstrip or coplanar waveguide. Subsystems designed with Multi-Mixä have produced savings in size and weight of greater than an order of magnitude when compared to the same subsystem designed with conventional microwave fabrication techniques. The Multi-Mix® process lends itself well to both low-volume and high-volume production, and allows modifications to be made to existing designs without extensive rework.

About Merrimac

Merrimac Industries, Inc. is a leader in the design and manufacture of RF Microwave components, assemblies and Micro-Multifunction (MMFM®) Modules serving the wireless telecommunications industry worldwide with enabling technologies for commercial applications. Merrimac is focused on providing Total Integrated Packaging Solutions^TM with Multi-Mix® Microtechnology, a leading edge competency providing value to our customers through miniaturization and integration. The Multi-Mix® process for microwave, multilayer integrated MMFM® circuits is a patented method developed at Merrimac Industries based on fluoropolymer composite substrates. The fusion bonding of multilayer structures provides a homogeneous dielectric medium for superior electrical performance at microwave frequencies. The bonded layers may incorporate embedded semiconductor devices, MMICs, etched resistors, passive circuit elements and plated-through via holes to form a three-dimensional subsystem enclosure that requires no further packaging. Merrimac Industries, Inc. is ISO 9001 certified.

Merrimac Industries, Inc. and its subsidiary Filtran Microcircuits Inc., with locations in West Caldwell, NJ, San Jose, Costa Rica and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, have approximately 260 co-workers dedicated to the design and manufacture of signal processing components, gold plating of high frequency microstrip, bonded stripline and thick metal-backed Teflon (PTFE) micro-circuitry and subsystems providing Total Integrated Packaging Solutions^TM wireless applications. Merrimac (MRM) is listed on the American Stock Exchange. For more information about Merrimac Industries, visit its home page at www.merrimacind.com.

This press release contains statements relating to future results of Merrimac (including certain projections and business trends) that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: general economic and industry conditions; slower than anticipated penetration into the satellite communications, defense and wireless markets; the risk that the benefits expected from the acquisition of Filtran Microcircuits Inc. are not realized; the ability to protect proprietary information and technology; competitive products and pricing pressures; risks relating to governmental regulatory actions in communications and defense programs; and inventory risks due to technological innovation, as well as other risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those detailed from time to time in Merrimac's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof, and Merrimac undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Contacts

Mason N. Carter, Chairman and CEO,
Tel: 973.575.1300, Ext. 1202; Fax: 973.882.5989
E-mail: mnc@merrimacind.com