Photo By Sgt. Sean Ferry | Soldiers from 2nd Detachment, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 151st Aviation Regiment,...... read more read more
Concord, N.H.-- The New Hampshire Army National Guard (NHARNG) celebrated the addition of a new type of helicopter at the activation and assumption of command ceremony for 2nd Detachment, Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 151st Aviation Regiment, 54th Troop Command, NHARNG, June 14, 2025, at the Army Aviation Support Facility.
Nine soldiers, including pilots, crew chiefs, and support personnel came from the NHARNG’s other aviation units to fly and maintain two new LUH-72 Lakota helicopters. This augments the state’s existing air assets in providing transportation and conducting reconnaissance in support of law-enforcement operations, such as counter-drug surveillance and assisting in search and rescue efforts.
“When compared to the [UH-]60 units within the state, you might seem small in both manpower and helicopter cross weight,” said Capt. Alex Hodsdon, the detachment commander, while addressing his troops during the ceremony. “But the significance of Bravo Company within the organisation is anything but small.”
The Lakotas are more compact in size and power than the UH-60L and HH-60M Blackhawks, previously the NHARNG’s two rotary-wing air assets, which benefits the unit’s missions.
“We now have a third airframe with increased range, increased endurance, and increased fuel efficiency,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Nicholas Rosetti, a pilot with the detachment.
With a fuel tank that can last over three hours, compared to the Blackhawks that can last over two, the Lakota will prove helpful in search and rescue missions with the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game and other agencies in areas like the White Mountains.
“We can dedicate almost two hours of search time before we hit our bingo and have to go back for fuel,” said Rosetti. “That extra hour we have adds up and makes a huge difference.”
Rosetti added that his unit will be able to get to missions sooner, because the Lakota has less moving parts. It can get off the ground quicker, often in less than 10 minutes compared to the Blackhawk, which can take 15-20 minutes to start a first flight of the day.
Enhanced visibility will also be a major benefit to adopting this new air frame, when the detachment is eventually able to acquire the Lakotas’ additional sensory packages, called the Mission Equipment Package (MEP).
The LUH-72s are currently “slick,” as Rosetti described, without the MEP. But, when installed, the pilot added that the aircraft will be equipped with a screen connected to a camera that utilizes thermal and infrared day and night-vision optics. It can also rotate 360 degrees, zoom in by 100-times, and gather GPS data from targets pinpointed by a laser that can reach ground from 5,000 feet in the air. The package also includes a searchlight, which would be mounted on the helicopters’ sides, known as the “night sun” for its brightness of 40 million candle power.
“In the end, New Hampshire is going to have a MEP aircraft,” said Col. David Mattimore, the director of aviation and safety, NHARNG. “That is probably our number one priority right now.”
But, in the meantime, Rosetti described a significant upgrade in the Lakota’s visibility, even when slick.
“You can be flying that Lakota, look over your shoulder, and see the tail and straight down through your skids,” said the pilot when recalling his recent flight experience. “Much better visibility, which allows the whole crew now to get better eyes on the ground.”
As of now, all of the soldiers who have come aboard the detachment came from within the NHARNG, and the new unit’s formation did not come at a hindrance to the strength of the other aviation units.
“We’re very fortunate in New Hampshire, where our aviation units are over-strength,” said Mattimore. “We were able to pull from that over-strength and put it into the unit.”
The crew chiefs who transition into the unit must undergo special training to be able to maintain the Lakotas. Their pipeline includes an additional skill identifier B-3, which is the maintenance course for the aircraft at the Western Army Aviation Training Site in Marana, Arizona, and a civilian license in airframe and powerplant from the Federal Aviation Administration in Nashville, Tennessee. Each course is three weeks long, and quite difficult, according to Sgt. Tyler Lefebvre, a crew chief and airframe powerplant mechanic in the detachment.
Soldiers in the new unit agreed that the opportunity was exciting and offered a chance to develop comradery with a team that, like their aircraft, is smaller in size but big in potential.
“I’m extremely lucky to have the soldiers who you see in formation today working alongside me to build the unit from the ground up,” said Hodsdon.
| Date Taken: | 06.14.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 06.14.2025 23:12 |
| Story ID: | 500648 |
| Location: | CONCORD, NH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, US |
| Web Views: | 45 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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