AAR (NYSE: AIR) announced today that it has added two new Sikorsky S-92® helicopters to its fleet of 29 rotary-wing and 20 fixed-wing aircraft that the Company uses to provide airlift services for the U.S. Government. The S-92 helicopters will be used to support a previously announced $450 million task order to provide super-heavy airlift services for USTRANSCOM in Afghanistan and are set to be deployed on-schedule in mid-February.

AAR Airlift serves as one of the nation’s largest providers of intra-theater airlift and has capabilities to support a wide range of defense, security and humanitarian relief operations. The delivery of these aircraft marks a major milestone for AAR Airlift as it expands and optimizes its fleet to support a broader range of Department of Defense airlift requirements and priorities. With the addition of the two S-92 aircraft, AAR’s fleet is more versatile and capable of providing support in all three airlift categories: medium, heavy and super-heavy.

“We evaluated a number of alternatives before concluding that the Sikorsky S-92 was the best choice to meet the arduous demands of super-heavy-lift missions in remote and extremely harsh environments,” said Jeff Schloesser, President of AAR’s Airlift Group, during a signing and acceptance ceremony at Sikorsky Global Helicopter’s facility in Coatesville, Pa. “The selection came down to choosing the aircraft that best fulfills the government’s requirements and enables us to offer reliability, responsiveness and the best long-term business case for the military.”

In addition to providing airlift services, AAR offers diverse products and services for fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and supplies composite interiors and components for the Sikorsky S-92 program. AAR also provides Sikorsky with interiors and fairings for a military variant of the S-92 and machined components for the H-60 helicopter.

Source: AAR press release