Tactical Air Defense Services Inc., a Nevada-based aerospace/defense services contractor, announced today that it has signed a lease-option agreement with Air Support Systems, LLC for the exclusive lease of four giant Russian aircraft, two ILyushin IL-76 and two ILyushin IL-78. TADS will offer the aircraft to the U.S. and foreign-allied militaries, and other federal and state agencies, for a variety of uses, including air-to-air refueling services, aerial fire-fighting services, oil-spill containment services, and other disaster relief deployment services.
ILyushin aircraft are widely considered superior to any other aircraft in service today for such applications. The ILyushin IL-76 supertanker is specifically designed for aerial firefighting, and can be retrofitted for aerial oil-spill containment. The IL-76 is considered the preeminent aerial firefighting aircraft, able to deliver in a single pass over 18,000 gallons of liquid chemicals, covering an area ¼ mile wide and 1½ miles long. In addition, it is the only aircraft of its size specifically designed to withstand the rigors of water bombing, making it safer and more reliable for firefighting and oil-spill containment. The IL-78 is a specialty military air-to-air refueling supertanker, capable of refueling 3 aircraft at once, and is the refueling aircraft of choice around the world.
The lease-option agreement gives TADS the right to enter into exclusive one-year renewable leases for any or all of the four supertanker aircraft, under a fee arrangement that allocates 50% of the operating profits each to TADS and to Air Support Systems respectively. TADS believes it is the only company to have ever successfully imported an ILyushin supertanker into the U.S.
TADS CEO, Alexis Korybut, stated: “The execution of this agreement with Air Support Systems, LLC is of great benefit to TADS as we seek to expand and improve the scope and capabilities of our service offerings. We believe our exclusive ability to lease these specialty Russian aircraft will help TADS to capture a significant portion of the rapidly growing sectors of outsourced military aviation services, aerial fire-fighting, and oil-spill containment services.”
Tactical Air Defense Services, Inc. offers tactical flight training, aircraft maintenance, air-to-air refueling, aerial firefighting, and disaster relief services to the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. approved allied countries, and to other federal and state agencies.
Additional information is available at the TADS website, www.TADS-USA.com.
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