Coulson Aviation was awarded a ten-year indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity Large Airtanker (LAT) firefighting contract with the US Forest Service (USFS). The total contract, valued at $7.2 billion, will provide the basis for operations and maintenance service for Coulson’s C-130H Hercules and Boeing 737 FireLiner aircraft.
“Coulson is honored to continue to provide our services in support of the US Forest Service,” said Britton Coulson, president and chief operations officer, Coulson Aviation. “Our crew members are incredibly skilled, efficient, and operate aircraft second to none. We have over 60 years of experience with aerial support operations and look forward to being a part of the group selected by the USFS to aid fire suppression in the years ahead.”
Coulson Aviation operates the largest fleet of civilian Lockheed C-130H aircraft worldwide, is rapidly expanding its Boeing 737 Fleet, and is the first and only company in the world to convert a Boeing 737 commercial airliner into a FireLiner tanker.
Coulson claims that the C-130H has been a leading attack aircraft in Coulson Aviation aerial firefighting missions due to its ability to employ makeshift runways for take-offs and landings while offering a temporary infrastructure base onboard the aircraft.