U.S. Army representatives today joined BAE Systems employees in celebrating the 120th delivery of the Advanced Aviation Forward Area Refueling Systems (AAFARS).
Members of the Army’s Program Executive Office for Combat Support and Combat Service Support were on hand Oct. 12 to accept delivery of the portable refueling system.
AAFARS “is the first of the 21st-century solutions the Army is developing for the storage, transportation, and delivery of fuel to the battlefield,” said Mathew Marturano, system acquisition manager of the Army’s Force Projection Program Office. “AAFARS is the lifeline for units to deliver fuel to forward arming and refueling points.”
The portable refueling systems will be used by U.S. troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, principally to fuel AH-64 Apache, UH-60 Blackhawk, and CH-47 Chinook helicopters. BAE Systems has delivered systems as part of a multi-year contract expected to be worth more than $100 million.
AAFARS is a modular, lightweight, portable combat refueling system designed for rapid refueling of forward-area military helicopters in support of deep-strike missions. The system has a 240 gallon-per-minute pump that can fuel four helicopters simultaneously at a rate of 55 gallons per minute each.
To date, BAE Systems has received $15 million in contracts from the U.S. Army’s Tank Automotive and Armament Command for 63 units of its second-generation AAFARS. The total production run that is expected to total 372 systems through 2009.
BAE Systems is an international company engaged in the development, delivery, and support of advanced defense and aerospace systems in the air, on land, at sea, and in space. The company designs, manufactures, and supports military aircraft, combat vehicles, surface ships, submarines, radar, avionics, communications, electronics, and guided weapon systems.
