EADS NA Armed Scout Contender. Great helo, wrong contest.

EADS NA has been hammering away that its helicopter is the right one for the US Army's next generation scout.

It offers twin engines, an ASSEMBLY plant in the US and commonality with a helo in production for the US Army, the UH-72.

If the Army operated its helicopters in the same way that the Marine Corps does (or if the Marine Corps was looking for an off the shelf replacement for the Huey) then the AAS-72 would be a no brainer.

Dropping off a recon team and then being able to fly out and provide fire support or over watch for a unit is an awesome capability.

But the US Army Scouts don't operate that way.  They're more like light weight Apache's than utility helicopters.

That's why EADS won't win this contest.

They will put up one helluva fight though and in the end I bet the Army ops for a simple upgrade rather than new helicopters.