Anti-Drug Deal
Lifts K-Max Orders

Big news for K-Max at Heli-Expo is the $21 million order for five aircraft from the U.S. State Department for use in supplying anti-drug forces in Peru, and the delivery of a helicopter to PHI in Taiwan to help build a dam and power plant.

The Taiwanese project calls for a total of four or five aircraft over the next two years.

A total of 31 K-Maxes have been sold since the program began, and deliveries are set to run at 8-12 a year for the next couple of years, according to Kaman sales executive Steve Daniels. Just four were delivered this year.

The Taiwan dam is the first such project in the world to be made possible by helicopters. K-Maxes will haul everything from cement to equipment over the particularly rugged terrain. A quirky Taiwanese law that prohibits the import of aircraft over five year old worked in K-Maxs favor as so few lifters are in production, Daniels said. (Heli-Expo Booth 954).