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The defence and aerospace giant has been selected to deliver ongoing logistics services across the US Army’s military training helicopters.
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The US Army has awarded a follow-on Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) contract to Airbus for the provision of spare parts, material, and engineering support across the entire UH-72A and UH-72B Lakota fleet of 482 utility and training helicopters.
The deal, which includes a six-month base and four-and-a-half option years, has a potential total value of over US$1.5 billion (AU$2.1 billion).
The Airbus contract is expected to involve work on platforms across 67 Lakota sites in the US and abroad, including National Guard bases in 43 states, and Fort Rucker in Alabama from which the UH-72A is deployed for the US Army’s Initial Entry Rotary Wing mission (IERW).
According to Airbus, this CLS contract with the US Army is the largest helicopter performance-based support project managed by the company globally.
“Airbus has provided exceptional product and support services in the UH-72A for nearly two decades,” Colonel Calvin Lane, US Army utility project manager, said.
“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 in the US, welcomed the opportunity to continue delivering logistics support for the US Army’s helicopter fleet.
“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,” he added.
The UH-72B is built at an Airbus facility in Columbus, Mississippi, while logistics are managed from the facility in Dallas, Texas.
The US Army deploys the UH-72A and UH-72B fleets for a range of missions, which include counter drug and southwest border missions for the National Guard.
In 15 years of service with the US Army, the UH-72 Lakota fleet has clocked over one million flight hours.
The Lakota platform is billed as a twin-engine aircraft with modern glass cockpit, flight control, and navigation systems.
[Related: Airbus extends DIRCM, EW partnership with Elbit Systems]
