WASHINGTON—In the wake of failed merger talks, European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. is going through a reset and looking to improve its position in the U.S. defense industry by aggressively pushing a lucrative plan to replace the U.S. Army's light attack helicopter.

A week after the collapse of talks between EADS and Britain's BAE Systems PLC, Sean O'Keefe, chairman and chief executive of EADS North America, said Thursday that company leaders are considering other potential mergers as they look to shore up EADS's work with the U.S. military.

Despite the merger failure, Mr. O'Keefe said, company leaders are working to wrap up a strategic review that is exploring other possible mergers.

As it considers its options, EADS North America is stepping up its efforts to win Army support to build hundreds of light attack helicopters to replace the Army's aging fleet that dates as far back as the Vietnam War.

"It's time for a competition," said David Haines, an EADS North America vice president who oversees the company's helicopter-development program.

EADS North America is one of several companies trying to position itself to win support from the U.S. to replace the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter fleet—if the U.S. military decides to do so.

In 2008, the Army canceled a replacement program by Bell Helicopter, a division of Textron Inc., because of excessive cost overruns. The military then cooled to the idea of replacing the Kiowa and shifted towards a talk of revamping the existing fleet.

But the Army has encouraged military contractors to present realistic, cost-effective alternatives. And the project could become an important new building block for EADS North America, which suffered a serious blow last year when it lost a $35 billion Pentagon contract to build a new Air Force aerial-refueling tanker.

EADS originally won that contract. But Boeing Co. staged a successful protest that overturned the award. That allowed Boeing to come back in and beat the European company in a bitter competition for the contract.

Even if EADS secures a new helicopter deal with the Army, it wouldn't dramatically improve the company's position in the U.S. military market, said Steven Grundman, a defense and aerospace specialist at Grundman Advisory, a Washington, D.C.-based consultancy.

"It's a great business strategy," said Mr. Grundman. "But I think they will have to find another fairly major acquisition in order to transform their presence in the U.S. defense sector."

Mr. O'Keefe said EADS has invested tens of millions of dollars over the past three years in the program in hopes of securing a deal with the U.S. military that could be worth between $2.5 billion and $6.5 billion. On Thursday, Mr. O'Keefe and Mr. Haines said the company's recent flight demonstrations for the Army had been a success.

Other companies, including Bell, are expected to present a serious challenge to EADS.

On Monday, Bell will begin its own flight demonstration for the U.S. military of its proposed Kiowa upgrade that the company said would ensure there was no "disruption" in the supply chain, which it maintains could occur by introducing an entirely new helicopter.

"We are confident that it is more cost-effective to upgrade an existing platform than to develop a new platform," said Greg Hubbard, a spokesman for Bell.

Winning the competition would allow EADS North America to build on its record. In 2006, the European company won a contract worth $3.5 billion to build more than 350 UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters for the Army.

A special Defense Acquisition Board is expected to decide by year-end whether or not to pursue a plan to replace the Kiowa.