U.S. Army Selects Airborne Systems DragonFly and FireFly Systems for Self Guided Parachutes

U.S. Army Selects Airborne Systems DragonFly and FireFly Systems for Self Guided Parachutes

October 12, 2007

    PENNSAUKEN, N.J., Oct. 12 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
Airborne Systems, which has combined the world's leading
parachute brands specializing in aerial delivery, rescue
and survival equipment, and engineering services announced
that the DragonFly system has been selected as the 10,000
lb Joint Precision Aerial Delivery System (JPADS) platform
for the U.S. Army. DragonFly is a precision guided
parachute delivery system that uses Global Positioning
System (GPS) signals to steer up to 10,000 lbs of cargo;
dropping supplies to troops in remote or dangerous areas. 

    ( Photo: 
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20071012/LAF003 )

    After being dropped from high altitude, DragonFly uses
GPS and a guidance, navigation and control system to
accurately fly itself to a designated location point on the
ground.  Using a gliding ram-air parachute, DragonFly can
land a significant distance from its point of release. 
This distance keeps the deploying air crew safe and reduces
the vulnerability of the ground troops receiving the
supplies.  

    In addition to the selection of DragonFly for the 10K
(10,000 lb) platform, the U.S. Army also selected Airborne
Systems' FireFly for their 2K (2,000 lb) JPADS platform.
Selection of the FireFly marks the first wide fielding of
this type of system by any government. 

    Airborne Systems offers a complete family of JPADS
platforms which are capable of delivering a wide range of
payloads from 75 lbs to 25,000 lbs.  The largest of these
platforms, the MegaFly, recently set the world record for
the largest ram air canopy ever flown.

    About Airborne Systems

    Airborne Systems has combined the core technologies of
four of the world's leading parachute brands; Irvin
Aerospace, GQ Parachutes, Para-Flite and AML (Aircraft
Materials, Ltd). Airborne Systems is a world leader in the
design, development, and manufacture of best-of-class
parachutes for military, personnel, and cargo systems,
space and air vehicle recovery systems, and deceleration
systems for high-performance aircraft. The company also
provides ordnance flare chutes, airbags, and weapons
delivery systems. Airborne Systems' North American
headquarters is located in Pennsauken, NJ and Airborne
Systems Europe is headquartered in Llangeinor, Wales in the
U.K. Information about the various Airborne Systems products
and services can be found on the World Wide Web at
http://www.airborne-sys.com


    For more information, please contact:

     Gary Calvaneso, Executive Vice President, Marketing 
     Airborne Systems
     Phone: [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]