an initial entry trainer. The UH-72 has also been criticized as unable to teach touchdown auto-rotations, among other maneuvers. The German Army had stopped using EC-135s for their initial trainer after Airbus advised them of it not being suitable for initial training. The US Navy also rejected the UH-72 as a trainer for the same reason. Proposed uses The Armed Scout 645 (EC645) was a proposed armed UH-72 variant for the US Army's Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) program to replace the OH-58D. On 4 May 2009, EADS and Lockheed Martin announced a teaming agreement for the 645. Three AAS-72X demonstrators were built and began flight testing in late 2010. In September 2012, EADS began voluntary flight demonstrations of both an AAS-72X and an EC145 T2, reportedly meeting with performance requirements. Two versions were offered: the AAS-72X, an armed version of the UH-72; and the AAS-72X+, an armed militarized version of the EC-145T2. In late 2013, the AAS program was terminated. In May 2012, the UH-72A was submitted in the US Air Force's Common Vertical Life Support Platform (CVLSP) program for a UH-1N Twin Huey replacement. As with the US Army, the UH-72A can operate in permissive environments, such as ICBM site support and security under the Air Force Global Strike Command and personnel transport in the National Capital Region by the Air Mobility Command's 89th Airlift Wing. Advantages over the UH-1N include 30 percent more speed, range, and loiter time, enhanced reliability and crashworthiness, night vision compatibility, modern avionics, and being cheaper to operate. In August 2013, the USAF said it planned to sustain the UH-1N for six to ten more years. In September 2013, acting Air Force Secretary Eric Fanning received a letter from the CEO of EADS North America, arguing that to refit and maintain the Hueys costs more than to acquire and operate UH-72As; the letter also urged prompt action as Army orders were almost complete and production was winding down. The USAF said it had insufficient funding for such a procurement and can risk using Hueys for a while. EADS North America stated that the UH-72A "will lower the risk to the U.S. Air Force nuclear enterprise, and will save taxpayers the considerable cost of future recapitalization." Reportedly, buying UH-72As would cost as much as upgrading 62 Hueys, but long-term operating costs would be much lower. Design The UH-72 is designed to take on a range