The U.S. Air Force has awarded Canadian firm Coulson Aviation a $39.26 million firm-fixed and cost-type contract to install its Retardant Aerial Delivery System (RADS)-XXL Firefighting Systems on seven C-130H aircraft to be operated by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire), the Canadian-based operator of heavy fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and designer of special missions modifications announced. Installation of the RADS-XXL systems will be performed at Lockheed Martin’s Greenville, South Carolina facility.

"We are the first system in the industry to employ technology to not only aid and reduce the workload of the pilots, but to produce a superior drop pattern on the ground,” said Coulson Aviation’s Britt Coulson. It first developed and installed RADS in 2011 to equip its own C-130H/Q for aerial fire suppression. The Port Alberni, British Columbia-based company has more than 25 years of experience in aerial fire suppression.