EADS Lockheed Martin bid for US Army helicopters

EADS is teaming up with top US weapons contractor Lockheed Martin to try to win a helicopter contract worth nearly five billion euros.

The US Defence Department has asked for bids after cancelling a programme led by Textron’s Bell Helicopter unit last year when costs ran over budget. Washington is planning to buy around five hundred helicopters for the US Army, which will have to be able to operate in high temperatures. EADS and Lockheed Martin will offer an armed version of EADS’ Light Utility Helicopter the UH-72A of which it has already delivered 67. They are built at a plant in Mississippi. There are also expected to be bids from Boeing, Sikorsky and AgustaWestland, which is part of Italy’s Finmeccanica.

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