Airbus U.S. Space & Defense announced today that it recently completed its first program demonstration in support of the U.S. Marine Corps Aerial Logistics Connector contract at Marine Corps Air Station New River and Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

The demonstration evaluated the performance characteristics of the UH-72B Lakota platform, validated the aircraft’s ability to carry specialized cargo, showcasing Airbus’ approaches to meeting Marine Corps requirements for an Aerial Logistics Connector system to support expeditionary advanced base operations.

“Integrating warfighter inputs early on in this phase of the contract helps ensure we’re hitting all the marks and gives us invaluable insights so we deliver the right capabilities to the U.S. Marine Corps,” said Rob Geckle, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Airbus U.S. Space and Defense.

This event is part of the Aerial Logistics Connector Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) Rapid Prototyping Program, which aims to provide the service with aircraft prototypes to demonstrate capabilities to the warfighter through a series of operational demonstrations and experiments. Future demonstrations will provide further information about the aircraft’s capabilities and will focus on modifications necessary for the aircraft to meet Marine Corps requirements to operate autonomously and carry specialized payloads. These demonstrations will continue throughout the rest of 2024 and 2025 and will inform future acquisition decisions for the opportunity to build prototype aircraft.

In May 2024, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) awarded Airbus U.S. Space & Defense a Phase I Other Transactional Authority Agreement, through Naval Aviation Systems Consortium, based on its unmanned UH-72 Logistics Connector concept, a variant of the proven UH-72 Lakota platform.

The Aerial Logistics Connector effort is one of several efforts across the Department of Defense to deliver logistical support in distributed environments during peer or near peer conflicts.