Over next year, Army shaping FLRAA version 2 requirements

WASHINGTON — As the US Army and Bell work to get pilots into the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) by 2030, service officials are eyeing three upgrades for a follow-on iteration. 

“What we don’t want to do between version one and two is redevelop the aircraft,” said Brig. Gen. Cain Baker, the Army’s director of the Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team.

“We’re looking at how do you bring [in new] technology capabilities … in the cockpit? How do you put their ability to communicate at longer distances?” he later added.

In late 2022, the Army selected Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor as its pick to eventually replace thousands of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, a deal that could soar to $70 billion if the program moves into production. Senior US Army leaders recently signed off on plans to kick start the next phase of the program — engineering and manufacturing development. But as work on the core aircraft continues, the Army is already eyeing improvements.

Following an Association of the US Army event Wednesday, Baker provided reporters with new details about the design of FLARAA “version two.” The service is banking on its Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) as the key to more easily adding in new capabilities, and this upcoming round of improvements should include new sensors for an enhanced pilotage capability, advanced avionics and an expansion of launched effects.

“We need that open system architecture and approach so we can integrate those capabilities quickly, affordably, and really make it the most [of it] … for the crews,” said Brig. Gen. David Phillips, the program executive officer for aviation. “Those future capabilities that we bring on board have historically been challenging, and that’s an intent from our open system approach is to lower that bar for new capabilities to get on board the aircraft.”

So far, Phillips and the acquisition community are not moving out on plans to buy those capabilities. Baker said it will likely take another year to draft FLRAA version two requirements, and those will then need to be moved up the chain for approval — first through Army Futures Command and then up to senior leaders.

Work on the FLRAA upgrade plan comes on the heels of the service’s decision to terminate work on a manned Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) earlier this year. That decision ultimately left the service with additional dollars to funnel to other aviation priorities, but also created a capability gap that officials like Baker, Phillips and Maj. Gen. Clair Gill — the commanding general of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence — are working to close. One such avenue is through the use launched effects — essentially small drones that shoot out of something else mid-flight to collect info or strike targets — from platforms like FLRAA.

“What we’re working through now is, how do we deliver launched effects today into the tactical battlefield to even extend further out into that high edge range,” Baker said.