Army to buy US copters for new fleet

Army to buy US copters for new fleet

Army chief Udomdej Sitabutr said the military has chosen a US-made helicopter as part of plans to modernise its helicopter fleet in the 2016 fiscal year.

The UH-72A Lakota is a non-arms-bearing helicopter used in medical and casualty evacuations, disaster relief work, homeland defence, and counter-narcotics operations.

The military ordered six UH-72A helicopters in March from Airbus Helicopters, the American subsidiary of EADS North America. It then boosted that with an order of nine more in late September at an estimated cost of $89 million (2.9 billion baht).

However, the army chief did not specify how many new aircraft the army was considering for its 2016 modernisation purchases.

With the recent crashes of the army's Bell 212 helicopters, the army is accelerating its push to upgrade its fleet, which consists of 40 212s and about the same number of Bell UH-1 "Huey" aircraft dating back to the Vietnam War.

The army budget for the next fiscal year will mainly be used to bring in new helicopters and train new pilots, Gen Udomdej said.

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