Europe's EADS to make 'major' announcement on US helicopters

[tocqueville]

Tue Aug 23, 3:34 PM ET

NEW YORK (AFP) - European aerospace and defense giant EADS was set to make a "major announcement" on the US Army's Light Utility Helicopter, the company said.

EADS North America chairman and chief executive Ralph Crosby scheduled a conference call for early Wednesday to discuss the helicopter program.

Bidding on the program was opened last year for 322 helicopters, a project budgeted for 1.3 billion dollars to replace Vietnam-era choppers for use in logistical operations.

US defense group Lockheed Martin indicated that it was bidding on the project as well.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050823/bs_afp/useumilitaryeads_050823193408

[DemInDistress]

1. 322 new helicopters @ 1.3 billion dollars

roughly 3 million dollars a helicopter.Sounds a bit extravagant.Am I wrong on this? 3 million bucks a helicopter

[jmowreader]

2. Three million dollars for a helicopter isn't outrageous

I went to some helicopter builders' websites. Sikorsky is the only one I could see who gives out prices online, but I found the price on a Bell.

The premier business helicopter is the Sikorsky S-76. According to its manufacturer, the 2002 price tag on an S-76 equipped as a "basic transport" ("basic" means different things to people who have enough money to buy a helicopter than it does to you or I) was about $6 million.

A Bell 430 seems to be the closest to the S-76, and HAS Corporation sells them for a base price of around $5 million.

The best comment is from fas.org, who is promoting the Bell 210 as the replacement for the UH-1H Huey and the OH-58A/C helicopters. According to Bell, the 210 is a remanufactured UH-1H using all new parts...the reason they bought the OH-58 in the first place is that the UH-1H in many cases is too much helicopter.