Uncrewed Airbus Lakota Marine Logistics Bid May Spur Army Role

AURORA, Colorado—Airbus is proposing an uncrewed logistics version of the UH-72B Lakota–a version of the five-blade H145–for the U.S. Marine Corps as the helicopter maker studies similar potential modernization options for the U.S. Army.

Targeted at the Marine Corps vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) family of systems logistics connector program, the uncrewed UH-72B variant would be modified to carry up to 4,000 lb. of internal and optional external cargo and, if selected, would be fielded in the late 2020s.

“We’re pretty close to knowing if we’ll be on contract or not,” says Craig Dupuy, senior director of business development and strategy for military at Airbus’ Grand Prairie, Texas-based U.S. helicopter unit. “It’s a middle-tier acquisition, so they’ve conveyed to industry that they have five years from initial award to put something in the field.”

A version of the autonomously controlled helicopter may also be applicable to an emerging Army requirement for VTOL-based logistics support in contested environments, Dupuy says. In early 2023 the Army announced it was standing up a contested logistics cross-functional team in Huntsville, Alabama, in a partnership between Army Future Command and Army Materiel Command. The unit was charged with planning for sustaining the future force, at the division level and below, in challenging regions, like the Indo-Pacific, in the event of a conflict.

“We’re trying to determine right now, what is our future? What is our pathway?” Dupuy says. “The biggest opportunity that we see right now for the future is getting into uncrewed logistics for the Army or the Marine Corps. There’s a lot of interest in the platform, just from a value [proposition] piece, a cabin size piece. That’s where we’re being pointed to go and look and say, is this a future path for this aircraft?” he says.

Airbus currently supports a fleet of 223 UH-72A Lakotas serving as primary training helicopters for the Army, in addition to a further 212 aircraft operating in various roles with the National Guard. Eighteen of the upgraded UH-72B variants are also in National Guard service. The entire Lakota fleet is approaching 1.5 million flight hours, Airbus says.

The helicopter maker continues to upgrade both the UH-72A and B, which along with the five-bladed hingeless and bearingless rotor system, also introduced a 30-min. run-dry transmission, four-axis autopilot and composite tail boom. Airbus is studying introducing a digital data transmission backbone into the aircraft and, in 2023, won a $27.8 million Army contract to retrofit avionics in 50 UH-72As under the Army National Guard Security and Support Battalion Mission Equipment Package program.

Studies of the uncrewed logistics variants come amid questions over the Army’s long-term plans for the Lakota, as well as the service’s revised modernization plans in the wake of the abrupt cancellation of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) in February and the ending of the Sikorsky UH-60V Black Hawk.

“We’re trying to figure out right now what the Army’s long-term strategy is for this platform,” Dupuy says. “What value do we provide to you? Do we stay where we are, or do you advance the aircraft because we have the capability to bring in the new UH-72B that performs well. Or do you get rid of us at a certain point in time,” he asks.

“As a company, as they look at these modernization efforts or as they look at challenges to a budget, we want to position our aircraft to be a low-risk, low-cost alternative, even if it’s a gap filler or a bridge to that future capability,” Dupuy says. The initiative could also promote Foreign Military Sales and direct commercial sales “where if we had additional capability, we might be a better fit for a country that might not necessarily need a Black Hawk, they can’t afford or can’t maintain it. So those are things that we want to pursue,” he adds.