History

Aerostar International was established in 1986 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Raven Industries, a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: RAVN) located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Established in 1956, everything which Raven was at its inception is carried on today in Aerostar International.

As part of Raven Industries, Aerostar traces its roots back to the General Mills Applied Sciences Division, where Barrage Balloons and other scientific items were developed and manufactured for the war effort.

Raven Industries was formed by a small group of aeronautical researchers who had all been working for a division of General Mills dedicated to the scientific balloon business.

The primary purpose of the new company was the manufacturing of high altitude research balloons. The fascination and passion of ballooning compelled the founders to utilize the imagination and innovation by which they would come to be defined to advance and develop all other aspects of ballooning.

Initially, Raven Industries' balloon business consisted of manufacturing high altitude research balloons for the US Navy. With this successful program, Raven Industries found itself producing a line of polyethylene high-altitude balloons used for research in the near space environment of 100,000 to 150,000 foot altitudes. Such high altitude balloons with capsules carrying mice, monkeys and even cosmic ray measuring devices served as a key proving ground for establishing man's compatibility in space.

From that beginning, Raven's Scientific Ballooning Division diversified from high altitude scientific balloons into hot air balloons, tethered blimps and aerostats, custom inflatables and military decoys. Additional corporate expansion was due to the expertise developed and product needs for scientific ballooning found in sewing, sealing, electronics, plastics, plastic fabrication and processing, and engineering.

Aerostar remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Raven Industries, Inc. and is an independently operated division specializing in government and military business as well as tethered aerostats and custom inflatables.

When Aerostar was formed in 1986, their mission was to carry on the pioneering work Raven had done in the field of hot air ballooning, helium parade balloons and advertising inflatables.

We have taken our engineering and manufacturing knowledge and translated it into revolutionizing the parachute, tethered aerostats and military protective wear industries. We have brought technical expertise and advancements in technology into every industry in which we choose to operate.

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