Here’s how the US military disappoints Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin) and Textron on the next generation attack helicopter
In 2018 the US Army launched the Fara (Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft) program and two years later chose the projects of Bell (Textron) and Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin). But now the US military has decided to end the program
The US military cancels its Fara (Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft) program for the next generation attack helicopter.
On February 8, the US Army announced that it will abandon development of a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), a next-generation reconnaissance helicopter, after spending approximately $2 billion on the program.
It was 2018 when the armed force started the Fara program and two years later it selected the designs of Textron's Bell unit with the 360 Invictus and Sikorsky , a division of Lockheed Martin, with its Raider
For both, the possibility of the 5 billion dollar contract in development funding that the army had requested to proceed with the Fara program in the next five years is gone.
After a "scrupulous assessment of the modern battlefield", the US Army says it prefers to increase investment in unmanned aircraft.
Army officials said the service still needs armed reconnaissance, but the technology has changed. The service will no longer rely on a manned helicopter to perform most armed reconnaissance missions and will instead turn to unmanned aircraft and sensors to conduct such missions, Defense News notes.
All the details.
THE US ARMY DECISION
“We are learning from the battlefield, especially in Ukraine, that aerial reconnaissance has radically changed,” Army Chief of Staff General Randy George said in a statement, reported by Reuters . “Sensors and weapons mounted on a variety of unmanned systems and in space are more ubiquitous, more readily available and cheaper than ever before.”
The Army said that in addition to ending development of the Fara, it will cease production of the UH-60V version of the Black Hawk.
Future development of long-range assault aircraft (FLRAA) continues as planned. Bell Textron was awarded the contract to supply its V-280 tiltrotor aircraft for the program in late 2022.
RID'S COMMENT
“An only apparently sensational decision – commented Pietro Batacchi, director of Rid – since the American Army, on the basis of the lessons coming from Ukraine, had been re-evaluating the requirements of armed helicopter reconnaissance for some time now: less “speed” and greater emphasis on autonomy and, above all, on standoff capacity and integration with the drone. The US Army now wants to focus precisely on this last aspect: the drone as an indispensable wingman to make the battlefield transparent, understand where and when to "enter", and saturate the opponent's bubble".
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SIKORSY AND BELL PROTOTYPES
On the industrial side, Bell and Sikorsky spent years and a large amount of dollars working on prototypes. Both helicopter prototypes were scheduled for first flight this year, but it's now unclear if or when they'll get there, Breaking Defense notes.
In a statement emailed to Breaking Defense , a Bell spokesperson said that while the company is also "disappointed," it will "apply the knowledge and demonstrated successes of our FARA development efforts to future aircraft."
SIKORSY'S POSITION (LOCKHEED MARTIN)
For its part, Sikorsky said in a statement that its X2 prototype, designed for the FARA program, offers "speed, range and agility that no other helicopter in the world can match."
“We remain confident in the X2 aircraft for U.S. and international mission needs now and in the future,” the company said. “We are disappointed by this decision and will await a debriefing by the U.S. Army to better understand its choice.”
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/ecco-come-esercito-usa-delude-lockheed-martin-e-textron-sullelicottero-dattacco-di-prossima-generazione/ on Mon, 12 Feb 2024 08:41:49 +0000.