Warplanes: Lakota Head For Thailand

Archives

November 9, 2014: The U.S. government has approved a Thailand request to buy nine UH-72A ("Lakota") Light Utility Helicopters. These will cost $10 million each (including training for pilots and maintenance crews, as well as spare parts and special maintenance gear). Thailand chose the UH-72A because it was most similar to the elderly UH-1s that Thailand is retiring. Originally Thailand wanted only six but it was pointed out that it would be cheaper to order a few more because of the cost of setting up the training and maintenance operations.

For the moment the only sales of the UH-72 will be to foreign countries because budget cuts have forced the U.S. Army to stop buying the twin engine UH-72A. In early 2013 the army ordered another 34 Lakotas for $5.4 million each. Additional electronics and anti-missile systems add several million to the cost per chopper. With that order the army has bought 312 of the 347 UH-72As it planned on getting. Most have already been delivered and apparently no more will be ordered.

Built by European firm EADS, the UH-72A is a militarized version of the EC145, a helicopter long popular with law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. The EC145 was introduced nine years ago and has been very popular with its users. The UH-72A purchase is a side effect of the cancellation of the Comanche scout helicopter in 2004 (mainly because of constantly increasing costs). Comanche was perceived as too expensive and complex. The UH-72A mainly replaces the few remaining UH-1 (“Huey”) helicopters, which have been retired because of old age.

The UH-72A has about the same capacity as the UH-1, despite its smaller size. The 3.6 ton UH-72A has a top speed of 260 kilometers an hour and a max range of 660 kilometers. Average endurance per sortie is about two hours. The helicopter has a crew of two and can carry up to eight passengers or about three-quarters of a ton of cargo or weapons. The UH-72A has been popular with its users and has had a readiness (for flying) rate of 90 percent.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close