Originally Posted by Boudreaux Bob
So tell me about the commonality of the Lakota to any other helicopter in the US Army Fleet of Aircraft.....or any other Branch of the Military for that matter?
Now if you were referring to Black Hawks then perhaps you would have a point.
The Lakota is, and will continue to be, in the US Army inventory no matter what happens with the TH-57/Jet Ranger fleet.
So the Army will always have the UH-72 fleet cost, but why force it to keep paying the TH-57 fleet cost as well?
The choice is between TH-57+UH-72 or UH-72 only.
UH-72 only will have much lower cost than TH-57+UH-72.
And, as NickLappos says, UH-72 training is much more appropriate for UH-60/AH-64/UH-72 operation than is TH-57 training.