Aerolab Inc.

Aerolab Inc., a minority-owned, self-certified small disadvantaged business headquartered in Jessup, Maryland, manufactures aeronautical measurement and wind tunnel systems for federal research and test facilities as a prime contractor (80% of recent awards). The company is a Subcontinent Asian American–owned for-profit manufacturer specializing in wind tunnel balances, educational wind tunnels, and aeronautical instrumentation under primary NAICS 334511 (Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing). All prime awards have carried total small business set-aside or no set-aside designation, reflecting a focus on commercial-off-the-shelf and specialized small-production manufacturing rather than large-scale defense contracts.

Aerolab serves a diverse set of federal research and test agencies with no concentration in any single customer. The Department of the Navy (Bureau of Naval Personnel) is the largest by dollar value with a $620.5 thousand preliminary design review contract awarded in November 2023 and completed in July 2025. The Department of the Navy Naval Air Systems Command Naval Air Warfare Center placed a $338 thousand award (amount and scope not specified in the source). The Department of the Air Force Materiel Command awarded a $76.8 thousand firm fixed price purchase order on January 22, 2026 for delivery of a six-component aerodynamic wind tunnel balance system to the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, with final completion scheduled for August 1, 2026. NASA Shared Services Center purchased an Aerolab Educational Wind Tunnel and control software valued at $54.5 thousand under sole-source acquisition in June 2025. Aerolab also acts as a sub-recipient on an NSF-funded grant administered through Florida International University focused on wind tunnel design, CFD analysis, and test protocol development for a natural hazards research initiative.

Activity has remained sparse and irregular—one award per year or fewer across 2020–2026—with combined potential value of $1.1 million across all five tracked awards. One award (the Air Force balance system at $76.8 thousand) reaches ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and faces recompete. The vendor's footprint reflects specialized, low-volume production work rather than volume ordering or recurring task-order vehicles.