Engine Modification Expert Obtains Stake in Carbon Fiber Firefighting Equipment Manufacturer

Blackhawk Aerospace signed a letter of intent to acquire a controlling stake of Recoil Aerospace, a fabricator of carbon fiber composite fire suppression tanks, aircraft structures, and aux tanks. 

The agreement will see the Dallas, Texas company diversify its holdings, allowing it to bolster its current product line with additional Recoil products. Blackhawk sees the marriage of the two as a way to combine their performance products and engine upgrades with Recoil's expertise in creating lightweight carbon fiber equipment to break ground in new aircraft equipment. Joseph Rice, managing director of Recoil, says that projects are in the certification pipeline that will take the firefighting segment by storm amid older, staid products. Though it has not been mentioned yet, the companies could, in the future, provide turnkey firefighting packages, streamlining the process of outfitting an aircraft for duty by reducing a series of equipment decisions to a single, affordable, and effective package deal. 

Recoil's family of products are specifically tailored to be as light and strong as possible, allowing stuff like their Tsunami Wildfire Suppression Tanks, Zeus Ballistically Tolerant Auxiliary Fuel Tanks, and Aero-Structure modifications to "allow their customers to increase mission performance in austere, hostile environments." 

“We are looking forward to not only growing our market base, but also bringing a number of exciting in-development products to certification. Together, we will set the new standard in wildfire suppression, focused on safety and improving mission capabilities," said Rice. 

Blackhawk feels much the same. “This exciting partnership will increase Blackhawk’s diversification into a growing global market,” said Matt Shieman, chairman of Blackhawk Aerospace. "The fire suppression market is growing with global demand increasing for new technology to replace aging products and solutions, which are 15 to 20 years old. Recoil is an innovative company with fresh, unique capabilities and solutions. Our two companies will combine efforts to accelerate delivery of new technology into this high growing global market that needs new, diverse solutions immediately.” 

FMI: www.blackhawk.aero, www.recoil-usa.com