Press Releases







		Press Releases Don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader? Download it for free here! Downloadable PDF file U.S. Army Selects Airborne Systems DragonFly and FireFly Systems for Self Guided Parachutes Pennsauken, NJ (October 12, 2007) 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. 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 www.airborne-sys.com Airborne Systems Selected To Design Parachutes for SpaceX Rocket Santa Ana, CA (May 23, 2007) Airborne Systems, which has combined the world's leading parachute brands specializing in aerial delivery, rescue and survival equipment, and engineering services announced that its Space and Recovery Systems Engineering team (formerly Irvin Aerospace) has been selected to provide Recovery Systems for Space Exploration Technologies Corp's. (SpaceX) Falcon 9/Dragon system. These systems will support government and commercial launch operations and the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. The Airborne Systems team will design and manufacture parachutes and related equipment to recover both the First and Second Stages of the Falcon 9 Rocket and the Dragon Capsule. The capsule will become a transportation vehicle to deliver cargo to and return equipment from NASA's International Space Station (ISS). In addition to carrying cargo, it is also being designed to transport crew members to the ISS in the future. "Our solution features a main parachute design from our family of large Ringsail products" said Tony Taylor, Technical Director, Space Market. "The Ringsail was designed to handle the rigors of spacecraft recovery. Over the years, its unique design has proven its worth and is currently used on a number of spacecraft recovery programs including the parachute development on NASA's Orion Spacecraft. We are very proud to be selected to work with SpaceX as our entire team has been focused on developing parachute recovery systems for large spacecraft and manned spaceflight for over a decade" said Taylor. "We worked with Airborne Systems on the Falcon 1 project and we are pleased to have them join the Falcon 9 and Dragon team as well' said Elon Musk, CEO and CTO of SpaceX". 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 www.airbornesystemsgroup.com Airborne Systems Announces Realignment Initiative Pennsauken, NJ (April 2, 2007) Airborne Systems Group, which has combined the world's leading parachute brands specializing in aerial delivery, rescue and survival equipment, and engineering services announced the organizational realignment of its operation centers. The new structure will align the company brands of Irvin Aerospace, Irvin-GQ, Irvin Canada, Para-Flite and AML into two divisions; Airborne Systems North America and Airborne Systems Europe. "Airborne Systems remains a market leader in each of its primary business segments and each segment has a positive long-term outlook said Elek Puskas, CEO of Airborne Systems. Due to our growth in the space, military parachute and aerospace businesses and with the evolution of these markets, we have initiated a company-wide organizational realignment to support the changing needs of our customers. We expect the realignment of our business units to have a positive impact on productivity, quality and customer service. These changes are intended to improve our global competitiveness and provide our customers with the highest quality of products and services". Airborne Systems has manufacturing facilities in Pennsauken, NJ, Santa Ana, CA, Belleville Ontario Canada, and Llangeinor, Wales in the U.K. According to Puskas, the realignment will not have any affect on the number of manufacturing facilities and was implemented to eliminate duplication of activities currently performed at each of the sites. As a result of these actions, the company expects to further increase cross fertilization between the research and engineering teams and improve its customer account focus through the realignment of its sales organization. "Our newly aligned organization will allow Airborne Systems to operate as a single global company with a customer centric focus, said Puskas. For almost a century, our company has compiled an unprecedented track record of setting milestones that demonstrate scope of capability, quality of product and successful performance, and the future looks even brighter". 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 www.airbornesystemsgroup.com Airborne Systems Showcases New Parachute Technologies to Global Military Audience Eloy, AZ (February 13, 2007) Airborne Systems Group, which has combined the world’s leading parachute brands specializing in aerial delivery, rescue and survival equipment, and engineering services, held a two day event allowing allied militaries from around the world to participate in a demonstration of the world’s most advanced parachute delivery technology. The event called “Airborne Days” focused on equipment used in aerial cargo delivery, airborne insertions and in rescue and survival operations. Military personnel from 23 different countries made jumps with the new equipment. “This is an unprecedented event” said Brad Pedersen, COO of Airborne Systems, North America. “With so many new parachute technologies, militaries have many options to increase their effectiveness on the battlefield”. One of the highlights of the event focused on “smart” cargo delivery technology used to re-supply troops in remote, hazardous locations. Airborne Systems’ family of JPADS (Joint Precision Aerial Delivery System) platforms utilizes GPS (Global Positioning Systems) to “steer” the cargo to the target location. The company developed a series of these precision cargo delivery systems for use with varying weights and sizes using the same software platform. With this “family” approach, the user interface on the Autonomous Guidance Units and the Mission Planer are identical across the various models of “smart” cargo delivery products. Also included in the event was the ATPS (Advanced Tactical Parachute System) which is slated to replace the US Army’s aging T-10 series of non-steerable troop parachutes in use since the 1950’s. The ATPS system includes a complete, newly redesigned reserve parachute and integrated harness system that is suitable for a wide range of jumpers from the fifth percentile to the 95th percentile Soldier. The new parachute will reduce the rate of descent by 25 percent from 22 feet per second with the T-10 to an average rate of descent of 18 feet per second for a 385lb Total Jumper Weight with the ATPS. Consequently, the decline in rate of descent will reduce the impact energy by almost 40% to lessen the potential for injury Other new technologies on interactive display included the U.S. Army’s latest steerable troop parachute, the MC-6 system which is being fielded to replace the U.S. Army’s MC1-1 series of steerable troop parachutes. Several high performance military parachutes were also featured. These included the Hi Glide HAHO (High Altitude, High Opening) system which has the highest gliding capability available and has been adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps, along with the Raider/Intruder System currently under evaluation as a candidate for the replacement of the U.S. Army’s MC-4 Ram Air Parachute System. A number of products from Airborne Systems, Europe developed at the UK and Canadian operation centers were showcased. These included the LLP (Low Level Parachute) System which is the standard non-steerable troop parachute in the United Kingdom and the SAP (Steerable Assault Parachute). Demonstrations were provided for the ARK (Aerial Rescue Kit) and SPARK (Small Pack Rescue Kit) which are the latest technologies used in aerial delivery rescue and survival equipment. “The real capability is in the company that ties this all together”, said Chris Rowe, Managing Director of Airborne Systems Europe. “We’ve created Airborne Systems as the one-stop shopping company providing solutions for all military parachute needs”. 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, deceleration systems for high-performance aircraft, as well as ordnance flare chutes, airbags, and weapons delivery systems. Airborne System’s 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 www.airborne-sys.com Back To Top PREVIOUS \| NEWS & EVENTS \| NEXT About Us \| News & Events \| Capabilities \| Products \| Engineering Services Manufacturing \| Contact Us \| Doing Business With Airborne Systems \| Site Map