{"id":15879,"date":"2019-11-13T15:36:36","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T15:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/13\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:33:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:33:18","slug":"report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2019\/11\/13\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\/","title":{"rendered":"Report warns US Army to watch out for creeping operational costs with future helos"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Army is currently set up to afford fielding two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/aaaa\/2019\/04\/07\/is-the-us-army-biting-off-more-than-it-can-chew-we-ask-its-future-vertical-lift-modernization-boss\/\" target=\"_blank\">future vertical lift aircraft types simultaneously<\/a> in roughly a decade, but the service should be careful when estimating the actual cost of keeping the fleets running, according to a Nov. 13 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/analysis\/assessing-affordability-armys-future-vertical-lift-portfolio\" target=\"_blank\">report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fielding new FVL aircraft is the Army\u2019s No. 3 priority and is part of an ambitious and relatively new modernization plan for the service. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/global-force-symposium\/2018\/03\/26\/army-aviation-at-a-crossroads-as-future-requirements-take-shape\/\" target=\"_blank\">FVL aircraft <\/a>will be paired on the battlefield with new capabilities in long-range precision fires, next-generation combat vehicles, a robust network, air and missile defense systems, and equipment that will make soldiers more lethal all the way down to the individual level to fight more effectively against near-peer adversaries across multiple domains of warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Replacing the current fleet is becoming increasingly imperative as helicopters in service are reaching technological and capability limits, even with upgrades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The report noted that the Army\u2019s current timelines for developing and fielding a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/aaaa\/2019\/04\/23\/us-army-picks-5-teams-to-design-new-us-army-attack-recon-helicopter\/\" target=\"_blank\">future attack reconnaissance aircraft, or FARA, by 2028 <\/a>and a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2019\/04\/04\/us-army-plans-to-field-a-future-long-range-assault-helicopter-by-2030\/\" target=\"_blank\">future long-range assault aircraft, or FLRAA, by 2030<\/a> will work if the programs are managed well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there are risks involved in getting aircraft through development into production, and the Army could experience issues if it does not take steps to predict operational and sustainment costs, and keep those costs down once the aircraft are fielded.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/global-force-symposium\/2018\/03\/30\/army-future-vertical-lift-hones-in-on-attack-recon-long-range-assault\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DFKPUSU5FFBU7H2TPWITGVL7QA.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Army Future Vertical Lift hones in on attack recon, long-range assault<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The U.S. Army will focus on attack reconnaissance and long-range assault vertical lift capabilities in its Future Vertical Lift program, but which will be first?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is cost risk in both programs which will require active management by the Army,\u201d the report\u2019s authors stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAcquisition cost growth at levels typical of successful acquisition programs would increase the cost of FVL but could likely be handled within the aviation portfolio if carefully managed,\u201d the report stated. \u201cIn the longer term, the most critical affordability issues for the vertical lift portfolio is likely be O&amp;S costs, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2019\/07\/17\/armys-future-long-range-assault-aircraft-passes-through-key-requirements-gauntlet\/\" target=\"_blank\">particularly for FLRAA<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is well-known that the greatest share of the cost of a program across its life cycle goes to operations and sustainment, and it\u2019s difficult to predict with complete certainty how much those costs will be during the development and initial production of a program, according to the report. Historically these estimates are inaccurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Pentagon\u2019s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office has determined that O&amp;S costs for rotary-wing platforms typically make up 68 percent of the life-cycle cost of the program, the authors noted in their report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSince previous rotary-wing system programs are most closely related to the kinds of systems likely to be acquired for the FARA and FLRAA programs, O&amp;S costs for FVL are likely to be more than 40 times larger than the FVL R&amp;D costs and more than two times larger than FVL production costs,\u201d the authors determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In part, the CSIS analysts used data from prior weapon systems to help determine possible O&amp;S costs for FARA and FLRAA, but that alone \u201cposes several challenges,&#8221; the authors noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For one, rotary-wing systems are procured and maintained by each of the military services differently, and each has a different approach to maintaining aircraft, which lead to \u201cwidely varying\u201d estimates of O&amp;S cost components, the report stated. \u201cThe different maintenance concepts alter how costs are allocated between the major O&amp;S cost components and can also affect what is included in O&amp;S cost,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1465\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8615794447_524d6746cc_k.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8615794447_524d6746cc_k.jpg.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8615794447_524d6746cc_k.jpg.jpg?resize=300,215 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8615794447_524d6746cc_k.jpg.jpg?resize=768,549 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8615794447_524d6746cc_k.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,733 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8615794447_524d6746cc_k.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1099 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Black Hawk (UH-60) is the Army\u2019s utility tactical transport helicopter. (Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The FARA program is easier to estimate possible O&amp;S costs, the authors found, because the aircraft has a comparable system in the fleet now \u2014 the AH-64 Apache. FARA won\u2019t directly replace the Apache, the report acknowledged, but it will be operated solely by the Army and will \u201clikely have similar maintenance posture to the Apache,\u201d the authors reasoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But they noted that if significant differences crop up as the FARA program matures, then the affordability analysis would required an update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army has requested industry keep it as simple as possible when designing FARA concepts to keep maintenance and sustainment costs from escalating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">FLRAA, according to the report\u2019s authors, is more difficult to assess because the two competitors for FLRAA are offering completely different designs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bell\u2019s concept is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2019\/05\/21\/bells-v-280-completes-low-speed-agility-tests\/\" target=\"_blank\">advanced tilt rotor<\/a>, which the Army has never fielded but the Marine Corps has, and the Sikorsky-Boeing team\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2019\/03\/21\/sikorsky-boeing-defiant-helo-takes-first-flight\/\" target=\"_blank\">concept uses coaxial rotor technology,<\/a> which has never been fielded in the U.S. military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is not clear that currently operating aircraft are truly comparable, and potential antecedent aircraft are operated by different military services presenting methodological challenges,\u201d the report stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, FLRAA is meant to replace Black Hawks, \u201cand it will be challenging for the Army to develop a new aircraft that is as inexpensive to operate as the Black Hawk,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis means that once a final design is selected, significant analysis will be required,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to analysis, the data shows that higher O&amp;S costs \u201cwon\u2019t necessarily fatally injure FVL but controlling O&amp;S costs are a crucial component in the vertical lift fleet,\u201d the report added.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2018\/01\/30\/future-vertical-lift-plan-poised-to-lead-army-out-of-acquisition-dark-ages\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"164\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Valor100percent.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Future Vertical Lift poised to get Army out of the acquisition dark ages<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Army is developing a digital backbone for its future family of vertical lift aircraft that could transform procurement across the service.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Army is working to develop new ways to predict O&amp;S costs as well as reign in those costs over a program\u2019s life cycle. The service has asked industry designing FVL to keep O&amp;S and production affordability in mind as they come up with both platform design, production design and maintenance plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But \u201cwhile the Army has several plans to leverage emerging technologies such as digital twinning, [Modular Open System Architecture], additive manufacturing, and artificial intelligence-enabled predictive manufacturing to create new maintenance paradigms and reduce maintenance personnel requirements, technological advancement does not always lead to the promised results,\u201d the report warned, citing the F-35 fighter jet\u2019s Autonomic Logistics Information System as an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is therefore important that the Army look to the lessons learned for managing long-term risk in major acquisition programs and not put all its hopes in the technological basket,\u201d the authors warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can the Army afford its future vertical lift fleet? Analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies crunch the numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","left-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"5":{"categories":["your-army","news","left-column","home","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-army"}}},"categories":[160,14,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3330],"class_list":["post-15879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-land","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"HS2YXV2ETFGWHFU3A3HOVVQDIM","arc_canonical_url":"\/land\/2019\/11\/13\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Report warns US Army to watch out for creeping operational costs with future helos - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Can the Army afford its future vertical lift fleet? 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Analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies crunch the numbers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2019\/11\/13\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-13T15:36:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T21:33:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jen Judson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jen Judson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/13\\\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/13\\\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Report warns US Army to watch out for creeping operational costs with future helos\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2019-11-13T15:36:36+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-07T21:33:18+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/13\\\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 1017,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/13\\\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/ApacheMojaveDesert.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Land\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/13\\\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/13\\\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/land\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/13\\\/report-warns-army-to-watch-out-for-creeping-operational-costs-with-future-helos\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Report warns US Army to watch out for creeping operational costs with future helos - 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