US Army orders 16 more UH-72A Lakota helicopters from Airbus, two weeks after it ordered 35

Airbus Helicopters was awarded an almost $117 million contract for 16 UH-72A Lakota helicopters for the U.S. Army, just two weeks 35 were ordered

The $116,903,994 contract modification for the procurement of 16 UH-72A aircraft was announced in a U.S. Department of Defense release on Thursday, March 22.

The estimated completion date is September 20, 2023.

According to an Airbus release, the latest contract includes aircraft, associated technical and flight operator manuals and program management in training configuration for the Initial Entry Rotary Wing mission at Fort Rucker.

On March 8, Airbus was awarded a $273,289,949 firm-fixed-price contract for procurement of 35 UH-72A helicopters, with an estimated completion date of March 8, 2021.

According to an Airbus release, these aircraft were in two configurations: 17 for the Initial Entry Rotary Wing mission at Fort Rucker and 18 for the Observer/Controller mission at the U.S. Army’s Combat Training Centers.

The Airbus UH-72 Lakota is a twin-engine light utility helicopter developed to replace the UH-1H Iroquois and OH-58 A/C Kiowa for domestic operation and used mainly by the U.S. Army National Guard. It is a militarised variant of the Eurocopter EC145 and was selected as the winner of the U.S. Army’s Light Utility Helicopter program in June 2006

Airbus says it has delivered more than 423 UH-72A Lakota aircraft since the award of the first contract in 2005.