DTN News: EADS North America’s LUH Platform Meets Key U.S. Army Armed Aerial Scout Performance Requirement

DTN News: EADS North America’s LUH Platform Meets Key U.S. Army Armed Aerial Scout Performance Requirement *Flight testing validates aircraft’s high/hot hover, endurance and controllability with 2,300-pound payload *Source: DTN News / EADS North America (NSI News Source Info) Arlington, Virginia, and Alamosa, Colorado, - August 5, 2009: EADS North America on July 29, announced it has completed a series of successful “high/hot” flight demonstrations of its UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) platform. The UH-72A Lakota is the United States Army's new light utility helicopter. The UH-72A Lakota helicopters are being acquired to replace the UH-1H Iroquois and OH-58 A/C Kiowa helicopters. They will serve with the US Army mainly for logistics and support missions within the USA and also with the Army National Guard for homeland security and disaster-response missions. The prime contractor for the UH-72A is EADS North America. A contract valued at $43.1m was awarded to EADS North America in June 2006 for an initial number of eight helicopters. The Army took delivery of the first UH-72A Lakota in December 2006 and deliveries of the initial eight were completed in July 2007. An additional 34 helicopters were ordered in October 2006 to be delivered by late 2008.* These flights proved that the UH-72A platform, currently being delivered by EADS North America to the U.S. Army, is able to meet the service’s demanding high altitude/high temperature mission profiles — for both current and future armed aerial scout operations — even in the world’s most challenging combat environments. Operating from Alamosa, Colo. with a takeoff elevation of more than 7,500 feet and carrying a simulated 2,300-pound Mission Equipment Package (MEP), the Lakota platform (to be known as the Armed Scout 645 once missionized) successfully hovered-out-of-ground-effect (HOGE) at a density altitude of 6,000 feet and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. This requirement was included in the Army’s Sources Sought document issued in October 2008 and reflects the evolving armed aerial scout mission environments faced by U.S. forces operating in theaters such as Afghanistan. The demonstration flight not only validated the aircraft’s high/hot hover capability but also confirmed tail rotor authority and controllability with the simulated MEP payload in hover-out-of-ground-effect conditions. A subsequent flight with the simulated MEP payload validated the aircraft’s long-range endurance capability – completing a 2 hour, 30 minute flight with a 35-minute fuel reserve.“This series of successful flights with a Lakota platform clearly demonstrates our team’s ability to meet the Army’s demanding high and hot operational requirements with a full combat mission package. We did so with a platform that provides broad commonality to the successful UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter flying in the Army inventory today,” said David R. Oliver, EADS North America’s chief operating officer. “We are confident in the capabilities of both our product and team – and remain committed to meeting the Army’s urgent requirement to address this critical combat aviation mission.” On May 5, 2009, EADS North America unveiled the Armed Scout 645 offering for the Army’s armed aerial scout requirement and announced the selection of Lockheed Martin to provide the Mission Equipment Package. The Armed Scout 645 will be built at American Eurocopter’s Columbus, Miss. facility where the Army’s UH-72A Lakota is currently produced. The Army has ordered 128 Lakotas and plans to acquire a total of 345 UH-72As through 2016. In addition, five Light Utility Helicopters have been ordered by the U.S. Navy for pilot training at the Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Md. To date EADS North America has delivered 72 UH-72A Lakotas, all on or ahead of schedule. The UH-72A and Armed Scout 645 aircraft platforms are based on Eurocopter’s proven EC145 multi-role helicopter. The UH-72A Lakota fleet maintains an operational availability rate higher than 90 percent; underscoring the readiness of these rotary-wing aircraft to perform their varied assignments. See video footage of EADS North America’s high/hot flight demonstrations in Alamosa. Information about the Armed Scout 645 is available at: http://www.armedscout.com/. About EADS North America EADS North America is the North American operation of EADS, a global leader in aerospace, defense and related services. As a leader in all sectors of defense and homeland security, EADS North America and its parent company, EADS, contribute over $11 billion to the U.S. economy annually and support more than 200,000 American jobs through its network of suppliers and services. Operating in 17 states, EADS North America offers a broad array of advanced solutions to its customers in the commercial, homeland security, aerospace and defense markets.