Airbus Scores 5-Year Support Contract With US Army

The United States Army has extended its contractual work with Airbus’ Contractor Logistical Support (CLS) to the Army’s entire fleet of 482 Lakota helicopters.

In this agreement, Boeing will be responsible for providing engineering support, materials, and spare parts to keep the Lakota UH-72A and UH-72B of training and utility helicopters mission ready. Boeing has previously enjoyed a lucrative long-term agreement with the US Army. According to Col Calvin Lane, U.S. Army Utility Project Manager “this contract underscores the Army’s trust in the aircraft’s capabilities, and we look forward to the continued support this contract provides to the UH-72 fleet”

Scott Tumpak, Vice President of Military Helicopters Division at Airbus added “we are proud of our more than 15-year record of providing excellent service and hope to continue this partnership for many years to come”. This 2022 CLS agreement has a potential value of more than $1.5 billion, and will involve providing support to the Army and National Guard bases across 40-odd states, in addition their overseas operational sites, with an initial 6-month base, and 4.5 option years.

As recently as 2016, a similar award was made consisting of one base-year and four one-year options for a potential value of more that $960 million, for Boeing to provide support across Army and National Guard bases spread across 40-odd states. It's been stated that the Lakota fleet flew in excess of 1 million flight hours in 2022, since the Army took initial delivery of a UH-72A in December 2006.

FMI: https://usarmy.mil, https://airbus.com