The long-standing animus between Airbus and Leonardo over U.S. government contracts is continuing in the wake of the U.S. Navy’s award of the TH-73A training helicopter program to the latter. The Navy announced on January 13 that it had selected Leonardo to provide up to 130 TH-73A training helicopters, military derivatives of the single-engine AW119, in a deal potentially worth more than $680 million. Airbus had proposed its H135 light twin for the mission and filed a protest on February 3 contesting the award. In statement to AIN, an Airbus Helicopters spokesman said, “While we respect the Navy’s right to choose the asset that best meets its needs, we believe that certain technical aspects of our proposal were not assessed accurately. We’re confident that when these technical misunderstandings have been clarified, the Navy will be reassured that the H135 is not only the best overall value for taxpayers but also the most suitable aircraft for the mission. The H135 is a proven military trainer with more than 355,000 training flight hours logged by 10 U.S. allies around the world.”
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