Thailand To Buy Six UH-72A Lakota Helicopters

Airbus Helicopter has won a $34 million modified contract to build six UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters for the Royal Thai Army (RTA), the US Department of Defense (DoD) announced on 28 March.

The contract includes the delivery of the helicopters fitted with Raytheon's AN/ARC-231 airborne radio terminal, as well as an environmental control unit and a mission equipment package. The helicopters will be built at Airbus Helicopter facilities in Columbus, Mississippi, and are expected to be delivered to the RTA from April 2015.

The contract award follows Thailand's request to purchase the helicopters through the Foreign Military Sale (FMS) mechanism in June 2013.