UH-72 Lakota
ICAO EC45The US Army's light utility helicopter, and the military face of the widely used H145. Live UH-72 Lakota positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s- G72183 4,675 ft 10-72183 🇺🇸 United States
- G72202 3,550 ft 11-72202 🇺🇸 United States
- DRAGO25 3,375 ft F-ZBPQ 🇫🇷 France
- YOGI24 2,975 ft 15-72359 🇺🇸 United States
- DENTS64 2,950 ft 14-72340 🇺🇸 United States
- NICAD28 2,925 ft 07-72027 🇺🇸 United States
- BOT0X25 2,575 ft 07-72023 🇺🇸 United States
- YOGI54 2,575 ft 15-72364 🇺🇸 United States
- DEALS81 2,425 ft 18-72413 🇺🇸 United States
- BOTOX21 2,400 ft 19-72442 🇺🇸 United States
- 06-72002 1,975 ft 06-72002 🇺🇸 United States
- G72478 1,550 ft 22-72478 🇺🇸 United States
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Airbus Helicopters
- Role
- Light utility helicopter
- Class
- H2T — Helicopter, 2 turboshaft engines
- Crew
- 2
- First flight
- 12 June 1999
- In service
- 2006
Operators airborne
About the UH-72 Lakota
The UH-72 is a militarised Eurocopter EC145 bought largely to take routine work off the Black Hawk fleet — medical evacuation inside the United States, National Guard support, border patrol and, increasingly, initial rotary training at Fort Rucker.
It was a deliberately unambitious purchase: an off-the-shelf commercial helicopter with minimal modification, bought because it was cheap and available. That approach worked, and around four hundred are in service.
The EC45 designator covers the whole EC145 and H145 family, which is very widely used by police forces, air ambulances and rescue services. French Sécurité Civile and Gendarmerie aircraft are frequent visitors to this page for that reason.
Callsign prefixes
- PAT
- Priority Air Transport — US Army
- DUSTOFF
- US Army medical evacuation
- DRAGON
- A recurring French Sécurité Civile block
How to recognise it
- —A small twin-engine helicopter with a hingeless four-blade rotor and clamshell rear doors.
- —A slim tailboom with a conventional tail rotor; later H145s have a five-blade rotor and a shrouded fenestron.
- —Usually low and local, at 100 to 130 knots.
Common questions
+ Is the UH-72 the same as an H145?
Nearly. It is a militarised EC145, the earlier version of what Airbus now sells as the H145. They share the EC45 designator, which is why civil air ambulance and police aircraft turn up on this page.
+ What does the US Army use the Lakota for?
Domestic tasks rather than combat: medical evacuation, National Guard support, VIP transport, drug interdiction and, since 2020, initial helicopter training.
+ Why do French civil helicopters appear here?
Sécurité Civile and Gendarmerie aircraft are state-operated and are carried in the military feed this site reads. They fly the same EC145 airframe and report the same designator.