UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter (LUH)
The UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) is a commercial aircraft designed to conduct light general support tasks in permissive, non-combat environments. Those tasks include civil search and rescue, personnel recovery, evacuation, counter-drug and limited civil command and control operations in the conduct of Homeland Security. The fielding of the LUH is part of an ongoing Army-level effort to transform its aviation capability through the deliberate reinvestment of funds from the canceled 2004 Comanche program. The Army National Guard will receive the majority of the 322 new aircraft. Initial aircraft will be sent to the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif. for medical evacuation missions in January 2007. The UH-72A Lakotas will replace UH-60 Black Hawks, which will be transferred to the National Guard for operational missions.
On June 30, 2006 the U.S. Army awarded a contract for the production and contractor logistics support of the Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) to EADS North American Defense of Arlington, VA. The LUH is a Commercial/Non-Developmental Item aircraft to conduct light general support, civil search and rescue, personnel recovery, air ambulance Medical Evacuation, Casualty Evacuation, limited civil command and control operations in the conduct of Homeland Security, and counter-drug operations. The LUH is intended to perform these functions only in permissive, non-combat operational environments. The primary users for the LUH are the Active Army Table of Distribution and Allowances units and the Army National Guard. The Army intends to procure and field a total of 322 Light Utility Helicopters. This is a commercial/NDI aircraft and was solicited on a full and open competition basis. There were 5 initial offers received. The contract base year plus options will cover 10 program years. Total amount obligated at award was approximately $43M; total estimated value of the contract, including options, is $2.3B.
The UH-145 Light Utility Helicopter was designated the UH-72A, since the VXX had been designated the VH-71 Kestrel.
The Light Utility Helicopter contract expands EADS' 20-year heritage as a helicopter supplier to U.S. homeland security and law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, DEA, the FBI, and numerous state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States. Commercial customers of the Eurocopter EC145, from which the UH-145 is derived, include STAT MedEvac, Vanderbilt Lifefight, Air Life, the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, CJ Systems Aviation Group, Lee Country (Florida) Rescue, and Allegheny General Hospital as an air ambulance and Taylor Energy LLC for offshore logistics missions in the Gulf of Mexico.
EADS North America leads a UH-72A team of industrial partners and subcontractors committed to delivering the best-value Light Utility Helicopter solution to the Army. Partners include American Eurocopter, which is handling the helicopter's production, assembly, delivery and training for the Army; CAE, the supplier of UH-72A cockpit procedural trainers; and Turbomeca USA, which produces the aircraft’s Arriel 1E2 engines.
EADS North America is the North American operations of EADS, the second largest aerospace and defense company in the world. As a leader in all sectors of defense and homeland security, EADS North America and its parent company, EADS, contribute over $8.5 billion to the U.S. economy annually and support more than 174,000 American jobs through its network of suppliers and services. With 11 operating companies located in 32 cities and 17 states, EADS North America offers a broad array of advanced solutions to its customers in the commercial, homeland security and national security sectors.
As of late 2006, the Army had ordered a total of 42 UH-72As from EADS North America, along with the associated training services for pilots and maintenance personnel. This contract expanded EADS North America’s 20-year heritage as a supplier to U.S. homeland security and law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Agency, FBI, and numerous state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States.
EADS North America officially delivered the U.S. Army’s first UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter on 11 December 2006, marking the beginning of this major defense program with a requirement for up to 322 rotary-wing aircraft and a potential total life-cycle value of over $2 billion. The initial UH-72A was received by the Army during a delivery and naming ceremony in Columbus, Mississippi, where the twin-engine helicopter will be produced.
EADS North America was to deliver a second UH-72A before year-end, responding early to the Army’s rapid phase-in schedule for the helicopter, which will be used on logistical and support missions within the United States. Forty more light utility helicopters currently are in the production cycle for delivery to the Army during 2007 and 2008.
At the delivery ceremony, the Army also unveiled the UH-72A’s official name: Lakota, which is a Native American Indian tribe of the Great Sioux Nation. Naming the UH-72A the Lakota continues the service’s tradition of naming its helicopters after Native American tribes. The Army has a long-standing tradition of using American Indian names, such as terms, tribes and chiefs for its helicopters. In the case of the Lakota aircraft, the linkage is between the Lakota legacy as stalwart defenders of their homeland and the nature of the aircraft's intended domestic missions.
Gen. Richard A. Cody, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, and Joe RedCloud, a chief of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Lakota Nation, accepted the Army's first Lakota Light Utility Helicopter. "The Light Utility Helicopter - from concept development to material fielding to rapid deployment - is not only serving as a catalyst for change across the Army, it is also accelerating the speed of Army aviation modernization and integration with other services and government agencies," said Cody. "We're pleased that you honor our tribe by naming this helicopter Lakota. You are not only honoring our past, you are recognizing that we are still here, joint partners in the heritage of the promise of America" RedCloud told the audience.
The UH-72A's industrial activity is centered at American Eurocopter's Columbus, Mississippi facility, which is to undergo a major expansion to accommodate the Light Utility Helicopter program. The Production line of the UH-145 - a version of Eurocopter's EC145 multi-mission helicopter, currently built in Germany - will be duplicated in Columbus through a series of steps that begins with partial assembly, followed by full assembly and the subsequent U.S. manufacture of major subsystems.
The Columbus, Mississippi factory of EADS North America’s American Eurocopter business unit is undergoing a major expansion to support the UH-72A production, assembly and delivery. Industrial activity at Columbus is starting with the Light Utility Helicopter’s build-up and acceptance for delivery, and will subsequently transition to full-scale production with the facility expanding to a total covered area of 325,000 sq. ft. to be completed in the fall of 2007.
Employment at the American Eurocopter facility – which is located adjacent to Columbus’ Golden Triangle Regional Airport – has grown steadily since the facility was opened in 2004 with an initial staff of 44. By late 2006, employment at the facility was approximately 140, and will continue to grow to approximately 330 in support of UH-72A production and assembly. In addition to the UH-72A program, activity at the Columbus factory includes production/assembly of AS350 and EC120 helicopters for U.S. Customs and Border Protection and other government/law enforcement agencies in North America, as well as support for the U.S. Coast Guard’s modernization of its HH-65 Dolphin helicopter fleet.
"I am very pleased that the highly skilled workforce in Columbus and East Mississippi is putting our state at the forefront of this important new national defense initiative. We're proud to be a partner in the UH-72A program and with EADS North America’s industrial growth," Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said. "EADS North America is meeting its goal of establishing a major manufacturing presence in our state,” said Senator Thad Cochran of Mississippi. “Its continued growth will be a substantial economic benefit to Mississippians." "With today’s UH-72A delivery milestone, Mississippi expands its contribution to and presence in America’s aerospace and defense community," said Mississippi Senator Trent Lott. "The U.S. Army and EADS North America can count on the dedication of our entire state in meeting the Light Utility Helicopter delivery requirements, and for other key homeland security and defense programs in the future."
Mississippi’s Third District Representative, Congressman Chip Pickering, said, “Today marks another milestone in Mississippi’s commitment to our men and women in uniform and to protecting the peace and security of our citizens at home. We in the Golden Triangle Region are proud to be the home of the UH-72A Lakota.” "The UH-72A will strengthen our nation’s defense, benefit Mississippi’s economy and create high-paying jobs,” stated Congressman Roger Wicker, representing the First Congressional District of Mississippi. "This is certainly a win-win program for both the state and the nation.”
