Press Release

Issued by Kaman Aerospace Corporation.

November 23, 2015

Kaman Aerospace Group (Kaman) announced today that its air vehicles and MRO division has executed an agreement for delivery in 2017 of two manned K-MAX heavy-lift utility helicopters with Lectern Aviation Supplies Co., Ltd. (Lectern) of China.

The orders are the first to be received from a Chinese customer, and represent the introduction of the K-MAX into China's large and growing aviation market. The first two helicopters will begin operations fighting fires for the China Department of Forestry. “The K-MAX has proven itself worldwide as a very reliable, low-maintenance helicopter with high availability rates, attributes that will help meet China's growing demand for a responsive, heavy-lift, utility helicopter” stated Simon Lau, director of sales for Lectern.

“This agreement with Lectern represents the continued growth of confidence in the K-MAX helicopter from customers around the world” stated Terry Fogarty, director, business development, K-MAX helicopter programs at the Kaman air vehicles and MRO division. “We are confident that customers in China will appreciate the reliability and high, hot performance of the K-MAX helicopter demanded by firefighting missions. The Chinese market possesses significant market potential for the K-MAX and we are working to capitalize on these additional opportunities.”

K-MAX aircraft are used around the world for firefighting, logging and other missions requiring repetitive aerial lift capabilities. The U.S. Marine Corps maintains two unmanned K-MAX aircraft developed with Lockheed Martin. These aircraft successfully supported the U.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan for thirty-three months from 2011-2014 carrying more than 4.5 million pounds of cargo. Additional unmanned firefighting and humanitarian missions for K-MAX are also being developed and tested.