{"id":36877,"date":"2024-02-08T22:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2024\/02\/08\/us-army-spent-billions-on-a-new-helicopter-that-now-will-never-fly\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:01:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:01:21","slug":"us-army-spent-billions-on-a-new-helicopter-that-now-will-never-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/battlefield-tech\/2024\/02\/08\/us-army-spent-billions-on-a-new-helicopter-that-now-will-never-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"US Army spent billions on a new helicopter that now will never fly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. Army is ending its latest effort to build a new armed scout helicopter, known as the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft<\/a>, an abrupt change of direction that marks one of the department\u2019s most significant program cancellations of the last decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service had already spent at least $2 billion on the program and had requested another $5 billion for the next five years, according to budget documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The helicopter program arrived in 2018 with lofty expectations. Army leaders hoped it would serve as a model for new acquisition approaches for its most complex and most expensive weapon systems. Prototypes from Bell Textron and Lockheed Martin\u2019s Sikorsky<\/a> were expected to fly later this year.<\/a> And, perhaps most importantly, the aircraft was slated to provide a long-needed armed scout solution after decades of starts and stops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Thursday, the Army\u2019s top acquisition officials described a new vision and major aviation overhaul. In addition to ending FARA, the Army plans to get rid of its entire Shadow and Raven unmanned aircraft fleets, said Doug Bush, the service\u2019s acquisition chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will also stop fielding its new replacement for UH-60 Lima-model Black Hawk utility helicopter \u2014 the Victor-model \u2014 to the Army National Guard and instead field UH-60 Mike-models, the latest variant used in the active force, Bush said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the service will delay procurement of its next-generation helicopter engine, which was set to be used in all UH-60s, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters as well as to power FARA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Bush said the Army will spend the newly available money on Black Hawks, the latest variant of the CH-47F Block II Chinook cargo helicopter, the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft and research and development efforts to accelerate its unmanned aerial reconnaissance capability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gen. James Rainey, an acquisition leader overseeing the program, said he doesn\u2019t view the cancellation \u201cas a failure\u201d for Army Futures Command, the Austin, Texas-based office heading the service\u2019s modernization efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are making great progress, we have momentum, the overwhelming majority of our signature modernization efforts are either on time or ahead of schedule<\/a> and are starting to translate into capabilities,\u201d he told reporters Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top priority<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, or FARA, was meant to fill Army aviation\u2019s No. 1 mission gap: armed reconnaissance. For the last 10 years, following the retirement of the Vietnam-era OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopter, which long performed that mission, the service has relied on the more expensive AH-64E Apache attack helicopter paired with the Shadow unmanned aircraft system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
An RQ-7 Shadow drone takes off during a training flight at Volk Field, Wis. (Vaughn R. Larson\/U.S. Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Army has already twice canceled potential replacement efforts for the armed scout. In 2004, it terminated the Comanche program after spending $9 billion to produce two prototypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years later, it canceled the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last attempt before FARA, the service asked industry to bring commercial off-the-shelf aircraft to a \u201cfly-off\u201d to fill the armed scout mission, but the Army walked away from the effort in 2013, finding nothing that met all of its requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five years ago, the service unveiled Army Futures Command<\/a>, a new command meant to improve the service\u2019s modernization program track record. FARA<\/a> quickly became a signature effort of the command, which was tasked with outfitting a fully modernized force by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, the Army has been advancing a second helicopter program, the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft.<\/a> Bell Textron won the contract to provide its V-280 tiltrotor aircraft for the program at the end of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skeptics have wondered if the Army can successfully procure two aircraft simultaneously,<\/a> but service leaders have said they have no choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked which program he\u2019d choose if future budgets didn\u2019t allow for both, Maj. Gen. Wally Rugen, then director of AFC\u2019s Future Vertical Lift cross-functional team, said the efforts are \u201cnot a \u2018want to have,\u2019 it\u2019s an imperative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cModernization is an imperative, so as long as that remains the Army priority, which I believe it will, then we\u2019re going to continue to find ways to execute these programs,\u201d he told Defense News in 2021. \u201cI don\u2019t see it as a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement Thursday evening, Sikorsky said its prototype, the X2, offers \u201cspeed, range and agility that no other helicopter in the world can match.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe remain confident in X2 aircraft for U.S. and international mission needs now and in the future,\u201d the statement read. \u201cWe are disappointed in this decision and will await a U.S. Army debrief to better understand its choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vision for vertical lift<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Army officials said the service still needs armed reconnaissance \u2014 but the technology has changed. The service will no longer rely on a manned helicopter to execute the majority of armed scout missions and will instead look to unmanned aircraft and sensors to conduct those missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe future is going to be about who can properly integrate humans and machines effectively, how do you optimize those two things,\u201d Rainey said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Army Chief of Staff Randy George said the service was influenced by the battlefield in Ukraine. It has seen there \u201cthat aerial reconnaissance has fundamentally changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSensors and weapons mounted on a variety of unmanned systems and in space are more ubiquitous, further reaching, and more inexpensive than ever before,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service plans to conclude FARA prototyping activities at the end of fiscal 2024, which will give the service and industry a chance to finish up technology development transferable to other programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Bush would not specify exactly how much money would be available to spend on other efforts to strengthen the Army\u2019s aerial tier, he said the Army plans to spend more on reconnaissance UAS that are more capable of surviving high-end fights, including the Future Tactical UAS and launched effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army\u2019s inventory of small, runway independent UAS includes more than 575 Shadows and 19,000 Ravens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service had long <\/b>planned to retire a portion of its Shadow fleet<\/a>, grown during the counterinsurgency years. Raven, a small unmanned aircraft, is also an aging platform and the service considers it no longer effective in multidomain operations against near-peer adversaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army has sought to replace Shadow with a Future Tactical UAS<\/a>. In 2022, after a roughly four-year competition, the Army awarded AeroVironment an $8 million contract<\/a> to provide its Jump 20 system as an interim FTUAS capability for a single brigade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To buy more, the Army held a second competition and, about a year ago, chose five companies to advance.<\/a> It quickly eliminated incumbent AeroVironment. By September 2023, the Army whittled the group to just two companies \u2014 Shadow manufacturer Textron and Griffon Aerospace<\/a>. Both are still building prototypes in hopes of winning an FTUAS production contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Brig. Gen. David Phillips, program executive officer for Army aviation, the Army is planning to get FTUAS prototypes into operational users\u2019 hands by FY25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the Army is pushing to award a contract for a short-range launched effect<\/a> in early 2025, he said. The service has plans to acquire short, medium and long-range launched effects as part of its modernization push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The FLRAA program will continue as planned, Bush said, and the Army will work to stay on track to field the first operational unit by FY30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
U.S. Army Spc. William Ellison launches an RQ-11 Raven drone during an operators course at Chabelley Airfield, Djibouti, on Oct. 13, 2021. (Pfc. Gauret Stearns\/U.S. Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Making adjustments<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

With the absence of a second future vertical lift platform as part of the Army\u2019s modernization plans, the service will commit more money to modernizing its current fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service wants a new multiyear contract to procure UH-60Ms beginning in FY26, when the current multiyear comes to an end, according to Bush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After planning not to buy CH-47F Block II Chinooks for the active force to free up funding for FVL efforts in 2018, the Army is now reversing that decision and plans to formally enter production leading to future full-rate production, Bush said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the Army says it will curb its Victor-model Black Hawk utility helicopters,<\/a> which feature digital cockpits and were intended to replace older Lima-model aircraft for the Army National Guard. Bush said the program experienced \u201csignificant cost growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army has said it considered the V-model technology a stepping stone in its pursuit of a digital backbone for its FVL fleet, which will allow mission systems to seamlessly plug into the architecture of the aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Redstone Defense Systems won a contract in spring 2014 to take a Northrop Grumman-designed cockpit and integrate the technology into V-model prototypes. The Army then partnered with Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas, to convert Lima-models into Victor-models<\/a> at the rate of 48 aircraft per year, which some called too slow, as it would take roughly 15 years for the service to produce all 760 V-model aircraft to replace the L-models in the Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phillips said the Army has delivered 60 V-models to the Guard and plans to continue fielding through fiscal 2024. The service will provide the Guard Mike-model Black Hawks to fill out the fleet requirements instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The V-model experienced software reliability issues in its initial operational test and evaluation in 2019, which partly delayed the program. The program was further delayed when the Army was unable to reschedule a new operational test<\/a> and receive certification to fly in national airspace during the early part of the coronavirus pandemic. The Army wrapped up its second initial operational test and evaluation<\/a> of the V-model in summer 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bush said the Army still intends to buy its next-generation engine, but will delay production for an indefinite period. The effort, known as the Improved Turbine Engine Program, has already been running years behind schedule.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Phillips, there are six ITEP engines in tests, two with the FARA competitors and two more that will go into the first UH-60s in May for testing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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