The UH-72 Lakota is the Army’s third largest fleet. Larger than the Chinook fleet and 75 percent the size of the Apache fleet, here’s how commercial practices make a difference in sustaining the fleet and enabling Army readiness.
By Breaking DefenseIn its last Southwest border rotation of 24 helicopters over a one-year period, National Guard Lakotas flew nearly 14,000 hours – near combat deployment numbers for these airframes.
By Breaking DefenseWASHINGTON: This hurts us more than it hurts you. That’s the essence of the regular Army’s message to the National Guard about the Aviation Restructure Initiative (ARI), a controversial cost-cutting plan that — among other things – strips the Guard of all its AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. Pain is on its way for all of…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.WASHINGTON: Sean O’Keefe, who led the bold but ultimately unsuccessful campaign by EADS North America to win the contract to build a new airborne tanker for the United States, is stepping down from his post as CEO and chairman of the American portion of the company now known as Airbus Group Inc. But O’Keefe is…
By Colin ClarkAFA Conference: The chairman and CEO of EADS North America is pressing the case of his company’s Lakota helicopters for the Air Force mission of protecting nuclear missile sites. In a letter hand-delivered today Fanning_Eric USAF UH72A 09.11.13 to Acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning, Sean O’Keefe argued that the Air Force’s plan to refit…
By Colin ClarkCORRECTED Oct. 19, 2012, 9:30 a.m. to clarify imprecise information provided during the EADS press briefing. WASHINGTON: The U.S. arm of European aerospace and defense giant EADS urged the Army on Thursday to buy new armed scout helicopters instead of upgrading its aging OH-58D Kiowa Warriors — and challenged competitors to top the performance two…
By Richard Whittle