"After decades of delivering to the US government and commerical operators, this is our first entry into the US military market," Fabrice Bregier, president and CEO of Eurocopter said in a statement.

He added that in terms of numbers, the award was "the single largest order for one aircraft type booked by Eurocopter to date."

The contract is for the supply of up to 352 UH-145 light utility helicopters, initially 332, with an option to extend to 352," a spokesman at Eurocopter's headquarters in Marignane, northwest of Marseille, told AFP.

The estimated value of the contract is three billion dollars over a 10-year period, he added.

The award of the contract will entail the creation of 200 jobs at Eurocopter's Columbus facility in Mississippi, which is to undergo a major expansion to accommodate the program. Production of the UH-145 will gradually be transferred to Columbus, starting with partial assembly, followed by full assembly and subsequent US manufacture of major subsystems.

The first UH-145 will be delivered to the US army in November.

For the program Eurocopter has allied itself with Sikorsky Aircraft, which will be responsible for logistical support, and Westwind Technologies for systems integration and CAE USA of Tampa, Florida, to supply cockpit trainers.

Eurocopter has supplied helicopters in the past to several US federal agencies, notably the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and Coast Guard, but not until now to the US army.

In June 2005 Eurocopter cited "technical reasons" for deciding not to tender for two other US army contracts for armed reconnaissance helicopters and units to be used to rescue soldiers.

Eurocopter employs 13,000 people worldwide and had a turnover of 3.2 billion euros in 2005 with orders for 401 new helicopters, up by 15 percent over its turnover in 2004.

The Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter group is a 100-percent owned subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, or EADS, and was created in 1992 through a merger of the helicopter divisions of France's Aerospatiale-matra and Germany's DaimlerChrysler Aerospace.

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