{"id":29985,"date":"2018-02-12T15:43:37","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T15:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/02\/12\/leonardo-withdraws-lawsuit-against-us-army-over-lakota-helicopters\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:26:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:26:53","slug":"leonardo-withdraws-lawsuit-against-us-army-over-lakota-helicopters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/2018\/02\/12\/leonardo-withdraws-lawsuit-against-us-army-over-lakota-helicopters\/","title":{"rendered":"Leonardo withdraws lawsuit against US Army over Lakota helicopters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Leonardo has withdrawn its latest lawsuit against the U.S. Army over the service\u2019s decision<\/a> to buy Lakota helicopters from Airbus without holding a competition, according to Leonardo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AgustaWestland, a Leonardo subsidiary, filed a lawsuit two years ago in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims over a standard sources-sought notice that the Army issued, seeking those capable of building a lot of 16 LUH-72A Lakota helicopters for its training fleet. AgustaWestland contended the decision unfairly restricted competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court ruled in favor of AgustaWestland, and the Army was barred from buying the 16 Lakotas. But the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the lower court\u2019s decision last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to the appellate court\u2019s decision, the Army decided to take first steps toward buying more Lakota helicopters<\/a> by issuing another sources-sought notice to industry on Jan. 4 for 35 Lakotas using funding from a different fiscal year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Days prior to the appellate court\u2019s ruling, Leonardo filed a lawsuit again in the federal court on Jan. 22, this time over the Army\u2019s new plan to buy more helicopters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn light of the Appellate Court ruling, Leonardo Helicopters has decided to discontinue any further legal action regarding the sole-source award of trainer helicopters to the U.S. Army,\u201d the company said in a Feb. 12 statement. \u201cWe nonetheless continue to believe that strong competition for the government programs is in the best interests of our war fighters, American taxpayers and the U.S. defense industrial base. Of course, we are disappointed that there was no competition in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal battle stems from an Army decision, triggered from major budget cuts under sequestration, to restructure its aviation assets. In 2013, the service came up with the Aviation Restructure Initiative, or ARI, which retired the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter and the Army\u2019s TH-67 single-engine basic rotary wing training helicopter. As part of the ARI, the Army decided to take dual-engine Lakotas already in inventory and repurpose them as the new designated trainer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several companies like Bell Helicopter and AgustaWestland were hoping at the time to sell military training helicopters to several services including the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\t