Airbus Group delivers 300th US Army Lakota helicopter

Airbus Group has delivered to the US Army the service’s 300th UH-72A Lakota helicopter.

Every Lakota has been delivered – on time and on budget – by an American workforce that is more than 50 percent US military veterans.

Since the UH-72A contract was competitively awarded in 2006, the company has delivered the Lakota in seven different configurations for missions including training, border security, search and rescue, medical evacuation, disaster response, VIP transport and range support.

Five aircraft are also in service with the US Naval Test Pilot School, which trains Navy, Marine Corps and Army test pilots.

Army officials have recently indicated plans to modernize the service's rotorcraft training fleet with the UH-72A.

"The Lakota was competitively selected eight years ago because it was an easily adaptable solution for a broad range of mission requirements, with a low-risk design that allowed the Army to save taxpayers millions in development costs," Allan McArtor, chairman and CEO of Airbus Group, Inc said.

The UH-72A offers the lowest cost to buy, own and operate of any US military helicopter in production, with a baseline unit cost of just $5.5 million.

The Lakota fleet recently passed the 200,000 flight hour milestone, and it maintains greater than 90 percent availability with full contractor logistics support.

The 300th Army Lakota will serve with the Missouri National Guard.