EADS teams up with LM; goes forward with ARH

EADS has started a new cooperation with Lockheed Martin to develop an armed recon version of the in-service UH-72A Lakota Helicopter, to be called EC-645. The two industrial big boys go forward and develop this product on their own cost, of course with a keen eye on the empty space left by the cancellation of the catastrophic ARH-70 program last year.

. “EADS North America is pleased to welcome Lockheed Martin to our industry team. Lockheed Martin is a leader in defense and brings extensive knowledge of rotary-wing system integration to the Armed Scout 645 industry team,” said EADS North America Chief Operating Officer David R. Oliver, Jr. “We’re confident that our team has a low-risk technical path to meet or exceed the performance requirements the Army outlined in the Sources Sought document. Our highly-capable and best-value solution will meet the Army’s armed scout capability gap, and has the flexibility to respond to the customer’s evolving mission scenarios in both current and future conflicts.”

Lockheed Martin has a 25–year legacy of unmatched expertise in Army aviation mission equipment components and subsystems integration, as well as worldwide logistics support to the Armed Forces. This experience includes Army attack helicopter programs, including the Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (Arrowhead®) system, LONGBOW Fire Control Radar, Video from UAS for Interoperability Teaming – Level 2 (VUIT-2) and HELLFIRE missiles.

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EADS is in a unique position here, with a matured, military-compatible product, an excellent track record with the US military, a capable industrial partner and experiences from other combat-modified helicopters they might be able to produce all and more that the ARH-70 was within a fraction of the time and a lot less money necessary.

“The Lakota was originally designed for use by Homeland Security,” McHugh said. “It’s leaps and bounds beyond what we currently have.”

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“We had no problem at all with the load or with the way the aircraft handled when the Soldiers exited [during airborne testing],” he said. “It (Lakota) performed perfectly. This is more than a typical military aircraft. It can do a lot of things a strictly military aircraft can’t do.”

Schexnayder said the Lakota has a range of about 350 miles.

“That’s almost 100 more than UH60s,” he said. “It will pay off in medevac operations.”

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Well Bell, you blew it...

[edit on 7/5/2009 by Lonestar24]