Rotorcraft Report: U.S. LUH Builds Advance; Congress Approves Budget

MILITARY/UTILITY

The U.S. Army has approved full-rate production for 322 Eurocopter UH-72A Lakotas, the light utility helicopter designated to replace the Boeing UH-60 Black Hawk in stateside Army active as well as reserve and national guard units. The $2.5 billion contract was awarded in June 2006.

For Fiscal 2008, both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives approved $230.5 million in funding for the aircraft.

The Mississippi National Guard will be the first Guard unit to field the UH-72A. The aircraft will first be assigned to the 1st Battalion, 114th Infantry Service Support, based in Tupelo. It is a part of the 185th Theater Aviation Brigade. The unit now flies the Bell Helicopter OH-58D in support of reconnaissance, counterdrug, homeland defense, disaster relief, medical evacuations, and search and rescue missions.. Those helicopters will be given to the state of Tennessee, according to the Mississippi Guard. The OH-58D carries two tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided missile, one on each side. The Lakota is not armed..

American Eurocopter manufactures the Lakota in Columbus, Miss.

The first four Lakotas are to be delivered to the Mississippi Guard in May, with the remaining four by 2010. Soldiers in the 1/114th will be trained to fly the helicopter at American Eurocopter in Grand Prairie, Texas. The only unit flying the Lakota now is the Army’s National Training Center’s Air Ambulance Detachment at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif.