Simplex® Aerospace announced it has reached an agreement with Astronics Corporation (NASDAQ: ATRO) to install the Max-Viz Enhanced Vision System (EVS) on Simplex® Aerospace SkyCannon™ and Fire Attack™ Systems. The Astronics Max-Viz EVS will be installed as standard equipment on the SkyCannon™. Simplex® is provisioning for the Max-Viz system on all newly designed systems and provisioning on legacy systems as time allows.

Newly designed Simplex® Aerospace Fire Attack™ belly tank systems allow for use of the aircraft multifunction display to view the hover pump and door operation. The new systems will also be compatible with viewing Max-Viz images on the aircraft multifunction display or a display dedicated for the acquired enhanced vision images. In addition to enhanced vision images, newly designed Simplex® Aerospace Fire Attack™ systems will support data acquisition of door operation, hover pump activation and foam pump activation, all correlated with aircraft GPS position.

The new Simplex® Aerospace SkyCannon™ system is the result of several years of research and development into determining the best method for mitigating the threat of high rise building fires. Fires in high rise buildings are not accessible by conventional ground based fire fighting systems. Using a fire fighting system mounted in a helicopter will allow fire fighters to reach the fire before it spreads to the upper floors of the building. The newly developed Simplex® Aerospace system will give fire fighters a new method to save lives and property in the event of a high rise building fire.

Mark Zimmerman, President and CEO of Simplex® Aerospace, commented that the new agreement with Max-Viz is “Another step towards our goal of supplying Simplex® customers with state of the art systems that will enhance an operators ability to increase revenue. By having efficient, feature rich products, our customers can be more effective in fighting wildland and high rise building fires”.

Astronics Max-Viz enhanced vision systems are designed for turbine and piston fixed- and rotarywing aircraft. The systems use infrared sensors, signal processing and advanced cockpit display to show terrain, runways, taxiways, aircraft and obstacles in poor visibility conditions, including light fog, haze, smoke, brown/whiteout, light precipitation and darkness. Astronics Max-Viz enhanced vision systems are small, reliable and affordable. For more information go to www.max-viz.com.

Founded in 1946, Simplex has built a reputation as the leader in design, manufacturing, and certification of aerial application systems and mission equipment for helicopters. Simplex maintains its industry leadership by incorporating the latest technology in designing and manufacturing systems from high-strength, low-weight composite materials to produce reliable and cost-effective systems for firefighting, agriculture, utilities maintenance and other aerial applications. For more information, please visit our website www.simplex.aero