Gauntlet Aerospace LLC

Gauntlet Aerospace LLC, a for-profit aviation solutions company based in Mojave, California, provides military aircraft flight operations, pilot training, and test-pilot evaluation services to the U.S. Air Force and Navy as a prime contractor (92% of awards) and occasionally as a subcontractor on aerospace systems integration programs. The company competes in full-and-open federal contracting with no small business set-aside designations on the majority of its work, though one $161,000 purchase order was awarded under a 100% small business set-aside.

Gauntlet's customer footprint is heavily concentrated with Air Force Materiel Command, which accounts for 25 awards worth $8.2 million combined potential value across the top two customer rankings — 96% of total recent awards and 96% of combined potential value. The Navy's Naval Air Systems Command Naval Air Warfare Center rounds out the active customer base with 11 awards ($272 thousand combined potential value), primarily for Test Pilot School field trip qualitative evaluation flight hours. A single award from Air Force Defense Finance and Accounting Service completes the four-agency customer set.

Gauntlet's core capability set spans P-51 Mustang and TF-51 warbird flight operations, L-39 and T-6 qualitative evaluation and training flights, and pilot instruction and ground training support for the Air Force Test Pilot School. Representative recent work includes a $346,953 delivery order awarded February 2026 for P-51 aircraft services in support of the Test Pilot School (FY26 Deployment #2), a $225,053 delivery order from November 2025 for P-51 Mustang operations, a $337,550 delivery order from October 2024 for P-51 warbird flight services, and multiple smaller purchase orders from Naval Air Warfare Center for Test Pilot School field trip evaluation flights ranging from $13,575 to $113,096. All work carries fixed-price or firm-fixed-price terms with no set-aside designations.

Gauntlet holds three active single-award Indefinite Delivery Contracts with Air Force Materiel Command. The primary vehicle is an Indefinite Delivery Contract (FA930219D0003) for P-51 warbird flight hours with a $1.79 million ceiling through September 2029, under which six task orders totaling $1.5 million have been issued. Two additional IDIQ vehicles for L-39 qualitative evaluation services (FA930219D0004, 5 task orders, $190 thousand) and T-6 airplane services (FA930220D0001, 5 task orders, $993 thousand) represent the bulk of Gauntlet's flight-hours infrastructure.

Activity shows volatility year over year — seven awards in 2022, three in 2023, eight in 2024, four in 2025, and one in early 2026 — with three awards (combined potential value $685 thousand) completing within the next twenty-four months and therefore subject to recompete. In its subcontractor role, Gauntlet delivers B-2 chase support and aircraft-ferry support services to Modern Technology Solutions, Inc., which is the prime on Air Force programs; a $24,605 Naval Air Warfare Center purchase order from 2025 represents Gauntlet's most recent direct sub award. The vendor's capability portfolio centers on manned aircraft flight operations, test-pilot training, and qualitative evaluation across legacy and modern military platforms, with primary NAICS coding in Flight Training (611512) across 35 recent awards.