The Royal Thai Army plans to buy six LUH-72A Lakota helicopters that would be built on the same production line as the Army's Lakotas in Columbus, MS, marking the first foreign military sale of the aircraft, according to industry sources and a letter from the Pentagon acquisition chief to the Royal Thai Army's commander-in-chief.

The House Appropriations Committee wants to add eight UH-60 Mike-model Black Hawks to the Army's planned buy of 65 in fiscal year 2014, according to the panel's defense spending bill.

While Boeing and the Army continue to work out their issues with the main supplier of the service's AH-64E Apache transmission, House lawmakers are urging the Army to consider a second transmission supplier.

House authorizers want the Army to keep the Improved Turbine Engine Program competitive through the flight test phase of development, according to the House version of the fiscal year 2014 authorization bill.

The Navy tested its V-22 Osprey in an unique carrier on-board delivery mission role on the Harry S Truman (CVN-75) last week, according to the V-22 Osprey joint program manager. The Navy is looking for a replacement, and this test may put the aircraft in line to compete.

Marines are learning to use their existing equipment in new ways and with new partners in the Pacific region as the Obama administration's defense strategy pushes more focus to this vast geography, but future budgets won't necessarily allow for an increase in the number of people and platforms, a Marine Corps official said last week.

The Air Force squadron that conducts initial rotorcraft pilot training has received all but three TH-1H upgraded training helicopters it is expecting to fill out its inventory, and the program is on track to deliver those final aircraft by the fall, according to service and industry officials involved with the TH-1H.

The Marine Corps is on track to a sign a $6.2 billion multiyear contract tomorrow for 99 V-22 Osprey aircraft to be built over five years, according to the joint program manager.

Bell-Boeing and Rolls-Royce are currently testing an engine upgrade for the V-22 Osprey aircraft, involving a new and improved filtration system, before handing over the modification to the Defense Department in fiscal year 2014. It will probably take about five years to get the upgrade out into the field, however, according to industry executives.

Naval Air Systems Command last week held a pre-proposal conference for the VXX Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program, emphasizing affordability and clearing another hurdle for as many as four industry teams who are to submit proposals later this summer.

The Army is talking to Bell Helicopter, a Boeing-Sikorsky team and AVX Aircraft Company about possible Joint Multi-Role helicopter technology demonstrator contract awards, according to a series of company statements released last week.

The House Armed Services Committee moved to restore funding cuts the Army made to the LUH-72A Lakota helicopter program in its fiscal year 2014 defense authorization bill approved last week.

The Air Force may be able to procure one more CV-22 Osprey than currently planned for in fiscal year 2015 or 2016, according to the tiltrotor aircraft's manufacturers, possibly alleviating the service's fears about timing constraints after FY-14.

Bell-Boeing and Rolls-Royce are currently testing an engine upgrade for the V-22 Osprey aircraft, involving a new and improved filtration system, before handing over the modification to the Defense Department in fiscal year 2014. It will probably take about five years to get the upgrade out into the field, however, according to industry executives.

COLUMBUS, MS -- While EADS North America continues to fight proposed fiscal year 2014 cuts that would end the Army's UH-72A Lakota helicopter production early, work is ongoing to find the Mississippi production line's next customers to keep it hot, the company's CEO Sean O' Keefe said last week.

The Army is late delivering a report to Congress addressing its aviation mission planning tools capabilities because it is working on two similar requirements at the same time resulting in a more complex effort, Army Secretary John McHugh explained in a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI).

The Army last week circulated an information paper on Capitol Hill defending its decision to cut 31 Lakotas from its spending plans, asserting that its current helicopter fleet can meet all requirements and arguing that modifying the Lakota for combat missions would be risky and potentially costly.

The Army's Apache helicopter program costs -- consisting of both new build and remanufactured aircraft -- have risen by $2.1 billion, according to the Defense Department's latest Selected Acquisition Report released May 23.

In their quest to find the funding needed to buy one more CV-22 Osprey, the Air Force and U.S. Special Operations Command have only a handful of complex options remaining after a request to include that money in the fiscal year 2014 overseas contingency operations budget submission was rejected.

Lawmakers last week questioned the Army's decision to cut 31 LUH-72A Lakota helicopters from its budget plans, highlighting what they called a successful track record for the program since its inception.