{"id":66385,"date":"2024-02-12T20:16:03","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T20:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/02\/12\/army-was-right-to-kill-multibillion-dollar-helo-program-analysts-say\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:01:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:01:25","slug":"army-was-right-to-kill-multibillion-dollar-helo-program-analysts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/land\/2024\/02\/12\/army-was-right-to-kill-multibillion-dollar-helo-program-analysts-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Army was right to kill multibillion-dollar helo program, analysts say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defense industry analysts said it has long been clear the Army needed to end its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, concerns about the program came before the war in Ukraine and as drones became commonplace on battlefields throughout the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And so when the service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/air\/2024\/02\/08\/us-army-spent-billions-on-a-new-helicopter-that-now-will-never-fly\/\" target=\"_blank\">announced last week it would cancel its multibillion-dollar scout helicopter program<\/a>, just weeks before the release of the fiscal 2025 budget, the news came as a surprise for its timing, but not for its content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, what is less clear is what the cancellation means for Army Futures Command, the organization tasked with reimagining the department\u2019s modernization efforts. When leaders created Futures Command five years ago, Army leaders described FARA as a top priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Given that its job is \u201cto understand the future and shape Army requirements accordingly, you can\u2019t help looking at this cancellation as a blow for that organization,\u201d said Thomas Spoehr, a retired Army three-star general and defense expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">House Armed Services Committee Vice chairman Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., announced he would call for a hearing on the cancellation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bradley Bowman of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies think tank told Defense News it was the right decision to cancel the program in favor of spending on unmanned systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cGiven what we and our adversaries have seen and learned in Ukraine, as well as the Army\u2019s insufficient budget, it seems to me the burden [of] proof is on anyone who argues that the Army should be spending billions of dollars on a manned rotary-wing armed reconnaissance program instead of unmanned systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bowman noted the cancellation is an acquisition failure, but said it comes amid several key successes for Army Futures Command, which nearly reached its goal of putting 24 new systems into soldiers\u2019 hands by the end of 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnyone suggesting it is all sunshine or all failure is not seeing the full picture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Byron Callan too said some bumpiness is expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s unrealistic for industry to expect complete stability and predictability in acquisitions,\u201d said Callan of Capital Alpha Partners. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t exist in the commercial sector. Technology and changing consumer demands, taste, drives change. Defense, to a degree, is no different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lawmakers are already expressing concerns about the decision. In a statement late last week, the congressional delegation from Connecticut, where Sikorsky is headquartered, demanded more explanation from the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They wrote they want more details from the Army on \u201chow they plan to achieve crucial aviation capabilities, thoughtfully prepare our national defense for the future, and utilize the exceptional and seasoned workforce at Sikorsky for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congress, according to Roman Schweizer, a defense analyst at TD Cowen, \u201ccould reverse some changes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The service had spent roughly $2 billion on the program, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/army-modernization\/2020\/03\/25\/lockheed-and-bell-will-compete-head-to-head-to-build-us-armys-future-attack-recon-aircraft\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lockheed Martin\u2019s Sikorsky and Bell Textron<\/a> also invested internally to compete for the chance to provide the Army\u2019s next armed scout helicopter. Both were building aircraft and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/techwatch\/2023\/04\/24\/us-army-preps-mission-tech-for-future-helicopter-despite-engine-delay\/\" target=\"_blank\">expected to fly later this year.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Loren Thompson, a defense industry consultant, said the cancellation isn\u2019t likely to damage the Army\u2019s relationship with industry because it came relatively early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cKeep in mind this program had not been awarded, nobody\u2019s actually losing anything that they were certain to get,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pointing to the service pairing the cancellation of FARA with plans to upgrade its unmanned aircraft and buying more modernized UH-60 Black Hawks and the Boeing-manufactured CH-47F Block II Chinook cargo helicopters, Thompson said the \u201cArmy has made the change, of course, more palatable for industry because it has thought through the impacts for each of the major players.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBoeing no longer needs to be worried and Textron\u2019s biggest program win in a generation remains intact,\u201d Thompson added, referring to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/2022\/12\/05\/us-army-makes-largest-helicopter-award-in-40-years\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bell Textron\u2019s win against a Boeing-Sikorsky team<\/a> to build the Army\u2019s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft at the end of 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Bryant Harris contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Army&#8217;s plan to cancel its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft was a surprise, but not a mistake, according to some defense experts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28846,"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":{"5":{"categories":["your-army","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","news"],"primary_category":"your-army"}}},"categories":[160,12,14,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3330],"class_list":["post-66385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-industry","category-land","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IGI43DUY2JHW5LTUSA6SWINPVU","arc_canonical_url":"\/land\/2024\/02\/12\/army-was-right-to-kill-multibillion-dollar-helo-program-analysts-say\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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