FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aerostar Awarded $64.4 Million Contract to Advance High‑Altitude Balloon Capabilities
Sioux Falls, S.D. — September 2026 — Aerostar is excited to announce it has been awarded a $64.4M contract to address an urgent operational need using high altitude balloon systems as part of the U.S. Air Force’s Swamp Gas project.
Under this contract, Aerostar will deliver a minimum viable product platform and payload system to advance the Air Force’s capability to rapidly deploy and operate high‑altitude balloon systems. Work under the contract will be performed through March 23, 2028. The award was issued by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
Aerostar’s balloon systems provide proven, long-duration stratospheric platforms that deliver persistent, high-altitude capability without the cost and complexity of satellites or conventional aircraft. With hundreds of missions and hundreds of thousands of flight hours, high altitude balloons provide a flexible platform for communications, sensing, and other critical missions around the world.
“This award is a major step in putting proven, mission-ready stratospheric capability into the hands of warfighters,” said Russ Van Der Werff, Vice President of Stratospheric Solutions at Aerostar. “We’re proud to partner with the Air Force to expand what high-altitude platforms can deliver for national security.”
About Aerostar With over 70 years of lighter-than-air innovation and expertise and two million flight hours in the stratosphere, Aerostar is dedicated to connecting, protecting, and saving lives. Aerostar launches up and safely operates hundreds of flights every year in full cooperation with the FAA and regional authorities. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Aerostar provides world-leading solutions in the aerospace and defense market, focused on stratospheric balloon systems and radar solutions. For more information about Aerostar’s high‑altitude technologies, visit www.aerostar.com
Media Contact:
Anastasia Quanbeck
Director, Culture and Communications
Aerostar