Aircraft Will Be Deployed To Army's Joint Multinational
Readiness Center In Germany
The 100th delivery of a UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopter
was celebrated at a rollout ceremony at the American Eurocopter
facility in Columbus, MS on March 11. The 100th Lakota aircraft
will be deployed to Germany with the Army's Joint Multinational
Readiness Center, becoming part of this unit's Combat Training
Center and further expanding the Lakota's mission applications.
"The UH-72A Lakota program has progressed on schedule and within
budget constraints," said Col. L. Neil Thurgood, the Army's project
manager of the utility helicopter office. "The aircraft has been
well received by Army aircrews and we have maintained a remarkably
high operational availability rate combined with an admirable
safety record. We especially look forward to fielding even more of
these capable aircraft to Army National Guard units throughout the
United States."
The Army plans to acquire 345 Lakotas through 2016, and the
service has ordered 182 of the helicopters so far, along with five
H-72A versions for the Navy. Aircraft already delivered to the Army
are used in missions that include medical evacuation, search and
rescue, drug interdiction, VIP transport and support, with the
in-service UH-72A fleet logging more than 25,000 flight hours to
date at an operational readiness rate of more than 90 percent.
"I am extremely proud of the team that developed this machine
and I congratulate them on their first 100 deliveries of the 345
new aircraft the U.S. Army will buy," said Brig. Gen. Tim Crosby,
program executive officer for aviation. "I am pleased to report
that our units have maintained a near zero mishap rate while
maintaining an operational availability rate of over 90 percent --
in the course of flying tens of thousands of hours with the
Lakota."
The UH-72A is a Defense Acquisition Category I major defense
acquisition program for the Defense Department, and the Lakota's
service entry in 2007 marked one of the most rapid introductions of
a new aircraft in the Army's history. Deliveries of the aircraft to
National Guard units allow aging OH-58 and UH-1 rotary-wing
aircraft to be retired, while UH-72As assigned to the active
component of the Army free up UH-60 Black Hawks for assignment to
war fighting missions.
For their service in Germany at the Joint Multinational Training
Command, the helicopters will be used to train pilots in combat
engagements, and are to carry equipment that includes a Multiple
Integrated Laser Engagement System, a Smart On-Board Data Interface
Module, and an electronic data manager.
When deployed to the Pacific Ocean's Kwajalein Atoll, the
UH-72As will perform transport and support duties. They are to be
painted in a high-visibility orange color scheme and outfitted with
skid-mounted floats, a life raft and jettisonable cockpit doors for
rapid egress.
Production of the UH-72A averages three to four helicopters per
month at the Columbus production site, which is operated by EADS
North America's American Eurocopter business unit. The
220,000-square-foot facility, located adjacent to the Golden
Triangle Regional Airport, is capable of producing up to five
aircraft a month.