The ARIES research program is a multi-institutional effort to develop several visions of the tokamak as an attractive fusion reactor with enhanced economic, safety, and environmental features. The ARIES-I design is a DT-burning, 1000 MW(e) (net) reactor concept based on modest extrapolation from the present physics database and featuring advanced technology such as utilization of very high-field superconducting magnets and a low-activation blanket. This paper describes the helium-cooled ARIES-I SiC composite low-activation blanket which contributes significantly to enhance thermal-hydraulics performance and safety features of the ARIES-I reactor design.