EADS North America is urging the US Army to buy a new armed reconnaissance helicopter to replace its aging fleet of Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warriors. The service is expected to make a decision by year end as to whether it will buy a new helicopter or soldier on with what it has.
Sean O'Keefe, EADS North America chief executive officer, says the US Army is looking for a new helicopter that it can acquire for less than the cost of continuing to sustain and upgrade the Kiowa. EADS believes its aircraft, a derivative the UH-72 Lakota called the AAS-72X, meets that criteria.
"This answers the mail in terms of what the Army's looking for," O'Keefe says.
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To make its case, the company recently participated in voluntary flight demonstration of two prototypes in Alamosa, Colorado from 24 September to 3 October. One aircraft was straight modification of the UH-72 while the other was a Eurocopter EC-145 T2 that was acting as a stand-in for a more powerful AAS-72X+ model.
The aircraft met all of the army's handling and performance requirements, says David Haines, EADS North America's vice president for helicopters.
O'Keefe also took a shot at Sikorsky's S-97 Raider proposal, which is based on the company's high-speed X-2 compound rotorcraft prototype, but will not fly until 2014.
"There is little utility or need to look at a new concept development effort," he says.
Sikorsky is the only company proposing a clean-sheet design for the proposed Armed Aerial Scout tender.
Source: Flight International
