May 19, 2014

Airbus delivers 300th UH-72A to US Army

Airbus UH-72A Lakota US Army training helicopter. Source: Airbus

Airbus delivered the US Army's 300th UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopter during a ceremony at its Columbus, Mississippi, factory on 14 May.

The company has delivered the Lakota in seven different configurations for missions including training, border security, search and rescue, medical evacuation, disaster response, VIP transport and range support since the contract was first awarded in 2006.

Army officials recently announced plans to modernise the service's rotorcraft training fleet with the UH-72A as the Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior is retired. The restructuring divests all of the army's single-engine rotary-wing aircraft, which encompasses both the Kiowa Warrior armed aerial scout and the Bell TH-67 Creek trainer fleets. All army aviators are to now be trained on the twin-engine Lakota.

Colonel Thomas Todd, the army's project manager for utility aircraft, accepted delivery of the 300th army Lakota, which will serve with the Missouri National Guard. The aircraft was delivered in the Security and Support (S&S) Battalion configuration. The variant expands the baseline UH-72A's capabilities for missions ranging from disaster response to border security operations. It includes an electro-optical and infrared sensor, searchlight, digital video recorder, secure data downlink and moving map. Lakotas in the S&S configuration are serving with Army National Guard units across the country, including extensive operations in the US southwest conducting border security and drug interdiction.



http://www.janes.com/article/37907/airbus-delivers-300th-uh-72a-to-us-army



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