EADS North America awarded $181.8m Army contract option for 34 UH-72A Lakotas

The U.S. Army has awarded EADS North America a $181.8m contract option to deliver 34 additional UH-72A Lakota helicopters, bringing the total aircraft ordered to date to 312. Army plans call for procuring 347 Lakotas through 2016. EADS North America has delivered 243 Lakotas from its American Eurocopter facility in Columbus, Miss., where up to five aircraft per month are produced by a workforce that is more than 50% U.S. military veterans. The same production line would produce the company’s armed Lakota derivative, the AAS-72X+, for the Army’s Armed Aerial Scout helicopter program.