(Reuters) - A small Alabama-based firm is gearing up to protest the Army's plan to hand an exclusive helicopter contract to a Russian government agency, saying it can do the job quicker and cheaper if it is allowed to compete.

The U.S. government has already spent nearly $1 billion to buy helicopters for Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan from its former Cold War rival since 2001, an initiative that has angered U.S. lawmakers who want the Pentagon to buy U.S.-made helicopters instead and prompted an unsuccessful protest by Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (UTX.N)

Now, another U.S. broker for Russian equipment is challenging the U.S. plan to skip a competition and hand a Russian government agency a contract worth up to $400 million.