The U.S. Army has equipped its first unit with the UH-72A Lakota. The first six Lakota light utility helicopters were delivered on May 22 and assigned to the National Training Center Air Ambulance Detachment in Fort Irwin, California, replacing the UH-60 Black Hawks which were transferred to the National Guard for operational missions.

EADS won the $2.6 billion LUH contract in June 2006 for a total of 322 light utility helicopters over the next decade. The first aircraft was delivered in a formal ceremony by officials and Joe Red Cloud, a chief of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Lakota Nation, on December 12, 2006.

The UH-72A is the U.S. designation for the UH-145 version of the Eurocopter EC145. It will be used for a variety of missions including Homeland Security, civil search and rescue, air ambulance and counter-drug operations, replacing the UH-1 and OH-58.