AE to become assembly plant for AS350 helos

Eurocopter will install upgraded industrial capabilities to its American Eurocopter plant in Columbus, Miss., to turn the Golden Triangle facility into a final assembly and test site for Eurocopter AS350 helicopters, the top-selling civilian helicopter on the American market. The plan, tentatively scheduled to be realized in 2014, has two major objectives that include a way to offset the likely reduction in U.S. Army contract orders for the UH-72A Lakota helicopters; and to provide a sales boost – within the largest light helicopter market in the world - to government and law enforcement agencies within the American market. The Columbus plant will become the final assembly facility for the AS350, and test site for Eurocopter and its supplier-produced parts, and the retrofit of Lakotas for federal agency and foreign military buyers. Source: PR Web, Sept. 20, 2013.