BRS Aerospace (Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc.) (PINKSHEETS: BRSI), a manufacturer of whole-aircraft emergency parachute systems, military cargo and personnel parachutes, and reflective safety products, announced today that it has been awarded an additional $8M in new orders by the US Army to manufacture “low velocity” and “high velocity” cargo parachutes. This is a more than 50% increase to the current contract production levels. Production will occur at both the South St. Paul corporate headquarters facility and the company’s North Carolina defense products facility. This significant contract increase will require an additional 134 new employees.
“We have been producing both low velocity and high velocity parachutes for the past several months and are delivering well ahead of schedule on the high velocity program. Such a sizeable increase to the delivery rate, coming relatively soon after our first run, is indicative of the trust and confidence the Army has in our quality and throughput abilities,” said Dave Blanchard, BRS Aerospace Chief Operating Officer.
“We expected increases in government spending on parachutes,” according to Larry E. Williams, BRS Aerospace Chief Executive Officer. “As demonstrated by these contract awards from the Department of Defense, we are very proud of our ability to provide quality defense articles in a timely manner. This is something we have been planning and executing for some time now. We anticipate this increase in our defense business to significantly and positively affect the growth of BRS Aerospace. BRS is an industry leader in parachute technology and we are especially proud to be supporting our troops in this unique way.”
“While the general aviation market continues to struggle, the strategic plan we embarked upon to diversify our product lines has proven itself, as military contracts now make up a majority of our total revenues,” said BRS Aerospace founder and director of public affairs, Boris Popov. “This diversification is making us more stable, predictable, and better able to position BRS Aerospace for the future. We are currently in the process of recapitalizing our debt structure. This, in conjunction with an infusion of additional financing, will both stabilize our financial situation and realize the opportunity these contracts present,” Mr. Popov concluded.
About BRS Aerospace
Based in South Saint Paul, Minnesota, BRS Aerospace consists of three divisions: BRS Aviation which designs, manufactures, and distributes whole-aircraft emergency parachute systems for general aviation and recreational aircraft; BRS Defense which designs and manufactures a variety of parachute systems for US Department of Defense and foreign military customers; and BRS Safety which designs and manufactures reflective and load-bearing safety vests, and other apparel. Since 1981, BRS Aerospace has delivered more than 30,000 parachute systems to aircraft owners worldwide, including over 3,500 systems on FAA-certificated aircraft such as the Cirrus Design SR20 and SR22 manufactured in Duluth, Minnesota and a variety of Cessna aircraft including the C-172/182 and new C-162 Skycatcher. To date, BRS Aerospace parachute recovery systems have been credited with saving the lives of 243 pilots and passengers.