LifePort Awarded First Commercial STC for Equipping Armor Flooring on Bell 407 Aircraft

LifePort, Inc. announces 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.

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.