Free from legal shackles it has been forced to wear for more than two years, the Army has signed a $273 million deal with Airbus Helicopters for additional UH-72 Lakota aircraft.

Announced March 8, the contract is for 35 of the light utility helicopters the Army uses to train rotorcraft pilots for other non-combat utility roles.

The aircraft in this deal include 17 UH-72As for initial-entry rotary wing training at Fort Rucker, Ala., and 18 of the same variant for observation and control overflight at the Army’s combat training centers.

J27_0583_md2_copyright Airbus

“We are proud that the U.S. Army has continued to rely on us to provide this versatile capability for its aviation fleet. We have an unbroken record of on-cost and high-quality program excellence and support for this aircraft,” Chris Emerson, president and chief executive of Airbus Helicopters, said.

The sale is the first Lakota contract to come down since competing firm Leonardo Helicopters contested a 2015 sale to Airbus on the grounds the Army did not compete the contract. That protest escalated to a lawsuit over 16 UH-72s the Army planned to purchase in fiscal 2016.

Before that case was concluded, on Jan. 22, Leonardo filed an almost identical lawsuit to stop the Army from buying new Lakotas authorized in the fiscal 2017 Army budget.

Two days after that filing, on Jan. 24, a federal appeals court threw out the 2016 suit but that did not immediately dissuade Leonardo from pursuing the new lawsuit in federal court, which effectively placed a halt on production and delivery of the aircraft the Army planned to buy and Congress authorized in fiscal 2017.

In buying the 16 additional Lakotas in fiscal 2016, the Army was simply reinforcing its decision to use the UH-72 as its training platform by executing an order attached to an existing contract, the court found. That decision was made in 2006 after a competition in which Leonardo participated and lost.

Leonardo Helicopters within days decided to withdraw the lawsuit challenging the fiscal 2017 purchase, clearing the way for follow-on orders of UH-72s based on the original 2006 contract.

Airbus has delivered 420 Lakotas to the Army against a program of record of 427 aircraft. As part of the Aviation Restructure Initiative, the legacy TH-67 training helicopter was scrapped in favor of the Lakota, which was officially designated the Institutional Training Helicopter. Accordingly, the Army in 2013 decided to increase its UH-72 fleet by 110 airrcaft, from 317 to 427 helicopters.

The UH-72A is a twin-engine light utility helicopter used for a wide range of military operations including border patrol, MEDEVAC, troop and VIP transport, light cargo, and homeland security. Airbus builds the Lakota at its Columbus, Miss., facility.  

Lakotas have been employed extensively over the last few months, responding to wildfires in California, and Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.