Carbondale, PA, March 7, 2018. Gentex Corporation, a global leader in personal protection and situational awareness solutions for defense forces, emergency responders, and industrial personnel announced today it has been awarded a three-year contract from Bristow Helicopters Ltd (U.K.) to manage and perform maintenance on their U.K. inventory of Gentex’s ALPHA 900 Cross Platform Helmet Systems. Bristow provides Search and Rescue (SAR) services to the private sector worldwide, and to the public sector for all of the U.K. on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Under the terms of the contact, Gentex will have responsibility for the airworthiness of the Bristow inventory of aircrew helmets, which are exclusively ALPHA 900 Helmets. Support was customized to meet the Bristow SAR specific needs and includes technical services (helmet fitting, records management, and training) and sustainment support (preventative maintenance; repair, and spares inventory management).
“In addition to supplying Bristow SAR crews with our advanced ALPHA 900 Helmet Systems, we’re proud to now support them with technical services and sustainment support through our European operations,” said Robert McCay, vice president aircrew and aircraft maintainer systems, Gentex Corporation.
With customizable, on-site support, customers can be assured of responsive, flexible, quality service, and continuity of their supply. Additionally, this approach allows customers to maximise their inventory’s performance, while reducing overall stock holdings; reduce their cost of ownership with a fully integrated supply chain (one-stop-shop); and improve capabilities through Ad-Hoc tasking.
“Our SAR operations have relied on the consistent, high performance of Gentex’s ALPHA 900 Helmets for over 4 years,” said Russ Torbet, Director of U.K. SAR, Bristow Helicopters Ltd. “Now, with the addition of the complete helmet management and service support provision, we expect to be able to better meet and maintain our operational needs, while reducing our costs, and enhancing the safety of our SAR crews, operating in the most demanding environments.”
Technical services and sustainment support is available for all of Gentex’s brands, directly or through their authorized global distributors.
Gentex’s advanced, scalable, and highly configurable ALPHA 900 military helmet systems line includes the new ALPHA 900 Search and Rescue (SAR) Helmet System which was developed in partnership with Bristow. Adopted by the U.K. MoD, ALPHA 900 is the only aircrew helmet platform that supports both fixed and rotary wing applications, reducing the logistics trail for those responsible for supporting both helmet platforms.
