…And Eurocopter Makes 3: EADS To Compete for $2B U.S. LUH Program

UH-60 Blackhawk In a recent DID post, we covered the US Army’s upcoming Light Utility Helicopter competition, which aims to replace the old UH-1H Hueys and OH-58 Kiowa aircraft in the U.S. Army and National Guard with approximately 320 new LUH helicopters between 2006-2015. These commercial, Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) Type Standard Certified helicopters will fill the niche missions in which the Army’s standard UH-60 Black Hawk‘s size, capability, and operating expenses may be unnecessary, performing a wide range of general support missions in the United States and overseas. Transport of personnel and supplies, disaster relief operations, medical evacuation, reconnaissance, drug interdiction, and homeland security will all be likely tasks. Dark horse competitor Now there’s a third contestant in the ring. Airbus parent EADS declined to compete for the recently awarded $2.2 billion Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter contract, but they’ve thrown their hat in the ring for the LUH – and they may have a winner. Bell 210(click to view full) Our last post covered the two main American contenders: Lockheed Martin and MD Helicopters with its patented NOTAR(NO TAil Rotor) MD-900 Explorer, and Bell Textron with the “improved civilian UH-1” Bell 210. The Bell 210 offers extensive commonality with the […]