Press release EADS North America receives a second production order for U.S. Army UH-145 Light Utility Helicopters

Arlington, Virginia, November  09, 2006 — EADS North America today announced that the U.S. Army has ordered 34 additional UH-145 Light Utility Helicopters, bringing the total number of aircraft purchased by the Army to 42. The LUH requirement is for up to 322 helicopters with a potential total program life-cycle value of over $2 billion. EADS North America, the prime contractor for the UH-145, was selected by the Army to provide the UH-145 for the Light Utility Helicopter mission requirement on June 30, 2006. The value of the new order is $170 million.

In addition to the order for 34 aircraft, the Army has placed orders for 6 additional external hoist kits for use on the UH-145, and 6 MEDEVAC "B-kits," which enables the Army to quickly reconfigure the LUH for medical transport missions from passenger or logistics configurations.

The order exercised by the Army includes contractor supported UH-145 specific pilot transition and maintainer training. The training package selected by the Army also includes the procedural trainer system provided by UH-145 team partner and subcontractor CAE. The pilot familiarization and maintenance training, which will take place at American Eurocopter's Training Center in Grand Prairie, Texas, will be aligned with the delivery schedule of the UH-145s.

"This latest order demonstrates the Army's continued confidence in the UH-145, and in our ability to meet the Light Utility Helicopter program's fast-paced delivery schedule," said Ralph D. Crosby, Jr., EADS North America's Chairman and CEO. "The UH-145 team is fully committed to supporting our customer's needs. Reflecting that commitment, EADS North America will commence deliveries of the UH-145 before the end of 2006."

The Light Utility Helicopter contract expands EADS' 20-year heritage as a helicopter supplier to U.S. homeland security and law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, DEA, the FBI, and numerous state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States. Commercial customers of the Eurocopter EC145, from which the UH-145 is derived, include STAT MedEvac, Vanderbilt Lifefight, Air Life, the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, CJ Systems Aviation Group, Lee Country (Florida) Rescue, and Allegheny General Hospital as an air ambulance and Taylor Energy LLC for offshore logistics missions in the Gulf of Mexico. The Army's order for 34 UH-145s represents the single largest order for EC145 helicopters to date.

EADS North America leads a UH-145 team of partners and subcontractors committed to delivering the best-value LUH solution to the U.S. Army. Partners include American Eurocopter, a business unit of EADS North America, which will handle the helicopter's production, assembly, delivery and training for the Army; CAE, the supplier of UH-145 cockpit procedural trainers; and Turbomeca USA, which will produce the Arriel 1E2 engines powering the UH-145 in its facility in Grand Prairie, Texas.

UH-145 industrial activity in the United States will be centered at American Eurocopter's Columbus, Mississippi facility, which is undergoing a major expansion to accommodate the Light Utility Helicopter program. All UH-145s will be assembled and delivered from the Columbus facility, with transition to full production as the 230,000 sq. ft. facility expansion is completed.

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