AugustaWestland Sues US to Thwart $800m Airbus Helicopter Deal

AgustaWestland, which makes military helicopters, has sued the US government over plans to buy 155 training helicopters built by rival Airbus without tendering the contract to competition.

AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica, has asked the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington to issue a temporary restraining order barring the Pentagon from awarding the $800m (£488m, €622m) contract to Airbus without a competition, according to a complaint filed on 19 September, reports said.

The US Army plans to repurpose about 100 twin-engine UH-72A Airbus light utility helicopters that are being used as training helicopters, and then buy 155 additional helicopters made by Airbus. The UH-72A helicopters are a modified version of Airbus's commercial EH-145 helicopter.

In the motion, AgustaWestland said other single-engine helicopters such as its AW119Kx helicopter, could meet the US Army's needs, and will be cheaper to buy and operate.

A UH-72A helicopter costs about $7.5m as against $3.25m for AgustaWestland's AW199Kx, potentially saving the US Army hundreds of millions of dollars by ordering a different helicopter, the company added.

The Army's decision has also been criticised by Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron.

Asian Customers

In July, Airbus inked agreements to sell 100 helicopters to Chinese firms.

Airbus Helicopters, AgustaWestland, Bell Helicopter and their Japanese partners are competing to bag a huge contract to build helicopters for Japan's military that will also be exported.

The contract, to build the so called UH-X helicopters, could last for at least a decade and cost about $2bn.

The UH-X helicopter project aims to replace around 150 of Japan's aging fleet of troop-carrying Huey helicopters, a Bell design.

The case is AgustaWestland North America versus US 14-877C, US Court of Federal Claims (Washington).