AUSA, Wash., D.C., Maryland - 

LifePort, Inc. announced today it has been awarded a commercial Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) to equip the Bell 407 helicopter with lightweight Ballistic Protection System (BPS). This is LifePort’s first STC approval for a BPS in a civil utility helicopter. LifePort is a Sikorsky Aerospace Services (SAS) company – the aftermarket division of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX).

“We offer the most advanced and lightest custom armor solutions currently on the market. This STC allows us to provide ballistic protective flooring solutions directly to a civil OEM aircraft. We are very excited about this commercial application and fully expect future OEM opportunities,” said Jeffery Jannitto, Sikorsky Aerospace Services’ Director of Mission Equipment.

The armor systems provide a multi-hit ballistic solution for the Bell 407 cockpit floor and crew seats backs and bottoms – ensuring maximum comfort and preventing personnel fatigue. LifePort’s BPS offers the lightest weight technology in composite armor solutions today. Delivery of 12 turn-key BPS kits for Bell’s 407 helicopter platform is currently under way. OEM technicians will install LifePort’s kits directly on to the aircraft. A single-engine civil utility helicopter, the Bell 407 is frequently used for corporate and offshore transport, for air ambulance and law enforcement missions and news reporting applications.

LifePort, Inc., a Sikorsky Aerospace Services (SAS) company, is a leader in the design and manufacture of mission equipment, specializing in air medical systems, lightweight armor, interior components and galley equipment for fixed and rotary wing aircraft. SAS is the aftermarket business of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies, Corp.