EADS sees additional light helicopter sales

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The North American unit of European defense company EADS (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) expects to sell nearly 200 additional light utility helicopters as a result of its successful program with the U.S. Army, a top executive said on Monday.

Ralph Crosby, chief executive of EADS North America, said the Army was very pleased with the company's work on the UH-145 Light Utility Helicopter, based on a commercial version, despite controversy about cabin temperature raised by a U.S. lawmaker last month.

"The Army is our staunchest supporter," he said, noting that EADS delivered the first UH-145 on schedule, despite a contract protest that delayed the program by 100 days.

In June 2006, the U.S. Army chose EADS' UH-145 military helicopter as its next light utility helicopter, EADS first major prime contract in the lucrative U.S. military market.

The Army plans to buy 322 aircraft with a potential total program life-cycle value of $3 billion, but Crosby said the company could sell around 500 helicopters, including foreign military sales, in the longer-term.

He said the potential value of the additional sales would be in line with the expected value of the original program.

He said one UH-145 had already been sold to the government of Malta.

He said EADS participated in a conference several months ago to discuss potential other foreign sales, but declined to give any additional details.

"This is an aircraft program that will go on for a long time," Crosby said. "The aircraft is working very, very well".

He said EADS and the Army had addressed the issue of cabin overheating in the helicopter, which arose during operational testing. He said EADS delivered the helicopter as ordered, but the Army asked for air conditioning and additional vents.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a senior Republican lawmaker from California, criticized the helicopter last month, citing an internal Pentagon study that concluded the helicopter was operationally unsuitable because its cabin got too hot.

The report said the helicopter completed 14 of 18 difficult missions, but was not effective for use in medical evacuation because it was too small to allow medics to treat two patients at the same time, and it could not lift an external load of 2,200 pounds, the weight of an external firefighting bucket.

Defense analyst Richard Aboulafia told the Reuters summit that the Army specifically set off to buy a smaller helicopter to ferry its people around, not carry out heavier missions.

He said Hunter was simply upset because the helicopter contract went to a foreign producer.

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(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)