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• Estimated at $740 million in direct activity and business brought to the network of some 1,000 vendors
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• Nearly 1 million square feet
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• Our products have been flying in the USA since 1957
- American Eurocopter’s heritage
• Our first U.S. sales partnership was established in 1963
- American Eurocopter’s heritage
• Our first U.S. manufacturing partnership was established in 1969
- American Eurocopter’s heritage
• Our SA.313 Alouette II was the first ever light turbine helicopter to enter civil operation in the U.S. (with PHI)
- American Eurocopter’s heritage
• We have been a fully-owned U.S. helicopter manufacturer since 1974
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• We have been the #1 producer of civil turbine helicopters in the U.S. for 9 of the past 10 years
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News > The first H-72A helicopter is delivered to the U.S. Navy for test pilot training
The first H-72A helicopter is delivered to the U.S. Navy for test pilot training
November 12, 2009
The U.S. Navy has received its first H-72A rotary-wing aircraft, which is based on same proven platform as the U.S. Army’s highly-successful UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter.
American Eurocopter builds U.S. Navy H-72A helicopters on its assembly line at Columbus, Mississippi, which also produces the U.S. Army’s UH-7A Light Utility Helicopter. The no. 1 H-72A is shown here on its first flight at Columbus. |
To be used in the training of test pilots from the U.S. military and allied countries, the fleet of five H-72As will be based at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Maryland.Â
The H-72A shares the same airframe as UH-72A Lakotas for the U.S. Army, and is manufactured on the same production line at American Eurocopter’s Columbus, Mississippi facility.Â
This expansion of UH-72A/H-72A missions confirms the Lakota family’s adaptability to a wide range of operational scenarios, and marks its new career in training the next generation of test pilots.
The Navy’s H-72As have several specific equipment additions for their pilot training mission – including jettisonable cockpit doors, a cockpit voice and flight data recorder, a main rotor blade folding kit and an air traffic advisory system. All five H-72As will be configured in the Naval Test Pilot School’s high-visibility white and orange paint scheme.
American Eurocopter’s production of the UH-72A/H-72A is performed for EADS North America, which is U.S. Army’s Light Utility Helicopter prime contractor.
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