The Army has won an appeal against Leonardo’s lawsuit attempting to block its pursuit of sole-source contracts for Airbus’ UH-72 Lakota helicopters.
The U.S. Court of Appeals announced its decision Jan. 23 reversing a 2016 court decision in a lawsuit filed by defense contractor Leonardo, then known as AgustaWestland, which claimed the Army must allow for open competition before acquiring more Lakota helicopters for its training fleet.
“We hope that the appellate court’s ruling today will finally end a two-year saga of one contractor attempting to wrestle business from a customer by holding Army readiness hostage,” Airbus said. “This ruling also removes the threat that Leonardo has held over the heads of our American workers in Mississippi — more than 40% of whom are U.S. military veterans — as it has tied up Army procurement long enough to nearly shut down our American production line.”
Army officials are now able to pursue Airbus helicopter procurement opportunities, including the EC-145, without first publishing a “Sources Sought” notice.
“This wasteful lawsuit not only damaged the Army’s readiness by limiting its ability to train new pilots, but threatened to cost the taxpayers countless millions by attempting to force the Army to introduce a brand new aircraft into its inventory,” Airbus said. “Had Leonardo succeeded, it would have been a massively expensive step backward from the Army’s cost-saving Aviation Restructure Initiative.”