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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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• Our U.S. aircraft fly the equivalent of 3,500 flights around the world each year
News > UH-72A Lakotas support the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster response
UH-72A Lakotas support the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster response
June 29, 2010
Sixteen U.S. Army National Guard UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopters are supporting monitoring and response missions in the Gulf Coast region following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
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These Lakotas are assigned to Army National Guard units in Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, as well as Mississippi – which is the home state to American Eurocopter’s UH-72A production line. The aircraft are providing observation, command and control and general aviation support to local, state and federal agencies responding to the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster.
“The Lakota fleet continues to be a highly valuable aviation asset in helping our Army National Guard units meet urgent requirements, like those found in the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster,” said Army Col. L. Neil Thurgood, U.S. Army Utility Helicopter Project Manager. “Our soldiers like the aircraft and the Lakota has been responsible for many life-saving missions. The UH-72A Lakota helicopter has met cost, schedule and performance metrics since program inception. I am proud of the Lakota team.”
During Operation Deepwater Horizon, the Lakotas have flown nearly 200 flight hours – monitoring buoys at oil containment areas and looking for breaks in oil booms.
The U.S. Army plans to acquire 345 UH-72As through 2015, and the service has ordered 182 of the helicopters so far – along with five H-72A versions acquired for the U.S. Navy, which have been delivered.
American Eurocopter builds the UH-72A for Lakota program prime contractor EADS North America.
UH-72As are operated throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Germany, and Kwajalein Atoll by active duty Army and Army National Guard units. They are used for missions that include medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), search and rescue, drug interdiction, VIP transport and general aviation support.
Deliveries of the aircraft to National Guard units allow aging OH-58 and UH-1 rotary-wing aircraft to be retired, while UH-72As assigned to the active component of the U.S. Army free up UH-60 Black Hawks for warfighting missions.
EADS North America has delivered 120 UH-72As, all of which have been provided on time and on budget. The in-service UH-72A fleet has logged more than 32,000 flight hours at an operational readiness rate greater than 90 percent.
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