Elkhorn Aviation, Inc.

Elkhorn Aviation, Inc., a woman-owned, veteran-owned, small disadvantaged business based in Baker City, Oregon, provides Type III helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft services to federal land management, conservation, and emergency response agencies exclusively as a prime contractor across 150 awards totaling $309.9 million in combined potential value.

Elkhorn Aviation operates as a Subchapter S corporation competing entirely under total small business set-asides across the majority of its portfolio. The vendor is self-certified as woman-owned, veteran-owned, and small disadvantaged; these designations recur across virtually every award in the prime footprint. The company's capability portfolio centers on aerial animal capture, eradication, and tagging (ACETA); wildland firefighting and aerial fire suppression; wildlife surveys and biological monitoring; prescribed fire operations; search and rescue; and specialty transportation. Representative work includes a $2.49 million delivery order from the National Interagency Fire Center for Type III helicopter support services at Salmon, Idaho through December 31, 2028; a $738,146.15 delivery order from the National Interagency Fire Center for helicopter operations at Custer, South Dakota through March 6, 2025; a $113,231.93 BPA call from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 2 for Mexican gray wolf survey, darting, and capture in Magdalena, New Mexico, awarded September 15, 2026; and a $210,431.60 delivery order from the Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management for aerial seeding operations in Ontario, Oregon, awarded March 4, 2025.

Customer concentration is heavily weighted to federal land management and emergency response agencies. The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) dominates both award count and dollar value, holding 47 awards (combined potential value $142.6 million), representing approximately 46 percent of Elkhorn's combined potential value across the entire portfolio. The Department of the Interior's Interior Business Center follows with 13 awards ($93.8 million combined potential value), anchored by high-ceiling indefinite delivery vehicles for helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft services. The Interior Business Center's Office of Policy Management and Budget adds three awards carrying $49.4 million in potential value. The Department of the Interior National Park Service Intermountain Region holds 16 awards ($512 thousand combined potential value), concentrated in wolf capture, canid capture, bighorn sheep capture, and elk telemetry operations at Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and related parks. The Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Idaho Region adds three awards ($21.3 million potential value). Taken together, the top five customer segments account for 99 percent of combined potential value, with the National Interagency Fire Center and Interior Business Center combined accounting for approximately 76 percent of dollars.

Elkhorn Aviation holds a portfolio of multi-million-dollar indefinite delivery vehicles with Interior and the Forest Service. The Type 3 Helicopter Support Services 2023–2032 IDIQ, awarded by the National Interagency Fire Center, carries a $50 million ceiling through December 31, 2033 and has generated 21 task orders worth $4.2 million in combined potential value. A second NIFC vehicle, the National Light Fixed Wing Services IDIQ, valued at $27.1 million, runs through December 31, 2026 and supports aerial firefighting, fire detection, prescribed burning, wildlife surveys, and transportation services. The Department of the Interior's On-Call Type III Helicopter Flight Services 2022–2027 IDV, carrying a $49.5 million ceiling through April 30, 2027, has issued eight task orders worth $547 thousand combined potential value for aerial animal capture, eradication, and tagging across the Lower 48 States. A newer Interior Business Center BPA for on-call Type III helicopter services, awarded May 1, 2025 with an $11 million ceiling through April 30, 2030, is actively generating calls for bison gathering, wolf operations, wild horse and burro surveys, and related work. The Interior Business Center also holds an $11 million BPA for on-call fixed-wing aircraft rental through December 31, 2027. The Forest Service maintains a $4.38 million single-award contract for National Air Attack light fixed-wing aircraft services (ATGS base) in San Bernardino, California, running through March 31, 2027.

Activity has grown modestly year over year, from 12 awards in 2022 to 21 in 2024, with a slight decline to 15 awards in 2026 (most recent full-year span). The most recent award, a bison gathering contract from the National Park Service Midwest Region, was issued September 27, 2026. Twenty-six awards carrying $6.6 million in combined potential value face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months and therefore represent recompete exposure. The vendor operates entirely through self-performance; across 150 prime awards and zero subcontractor awards, Elkhorn Aviation reports no subcontracting engagement. Service Contract Inventory (SCI) data covering federal service contracts above the $150,000 threshold shows $1.7 million in invoiced revenue across FY2022 only, with 2.2 FTEs reported that year and zero FTEs reported in FY2023–FY2025; this reflects SCI's narrow focus on service contracts and omission of goods, products, and many micro-purchases that dominate Elkhorn's delivery model. On the SCI-captured contracts in FY2022, government-paid rates ranged from around $331/hour at the tenth percentile to $416/hour at the 90th percentile, with a median of approximately $374/hour. Elkhorn's federal footprint is concentrated in the western United States, with primary performance locations at Baker City, Oregon (company headquarters), and secondary operations at Salmon, Idaho; Custer, South Dakota; Gardiner and Jackson, Wyoming; and multiple Interior regions across the Lower 48 States.

e are a friendly full-service Fixed Base Operator (FBO) with 24 hour call out services. We offer first-class maintenance, rental aircraft and charters. Our aircraft fly charter flights throughout the United States. Our helicopters are available for fire fighting, charter, game surveys, cattle and horse gathering, scenic flights and training. Our UH-1H helicopter is available for a variety of heavy lift helicopter services and aerial crane work including remote hook long line services capable of lifting heavy loads up to 4000 lbs to remote areas. Both the UH-1H and Long Ranger helicopters are experienced in power line services. We offer a full range of services including scenic flights, game surveys, telemetry, search and rescue, air attack and forest recon.