BAE Systems awarded refuelling contract

BAE Systems has received a $31.6m order from the US Army TACOM Life Cycle Management Command for 119 portable combat helicopter refuelling systems. It is the 14th order in a production run that now totals 362 units, bringing the total contract value to date to $94.3m.

The Advanced Aviation Forward Area Refuelling Systems (AAFARS) are used by US troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, principally to fuel AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Blackhawk, and CH-47 Chinook helicopters. Over the past two years, the US army has fielded more than 200 AAFARS units in the Middle East, Europe, Korea, Central and South America, and the United States.

BAE Systems says AAFARS is a modular, lightweight, portable combat refuelling system designed for rapid refuelling of forward-area military helicopters in support of deep strikes. The system has a 240-gallon-per-minute pump that can fuel four helicopters simultaneously at a rate of 55 gallons per minute each.

Deliveries under this order will begin in October 2007 and conclude in December 2008.