Page 42 - HeliOps Frontline Issue 26

42 HELIOPS FRONTLINE / ISSUE 26 / 2019

With the US Army focused on future assault and
reconnaissance helicopters, Paul Kennard explores the

‘where now?’ for vertical heavy lift capability.

FLRAA AND FARA

The US Army is in the middle of an ambitious and expensive
re-equipment program. The twin programs of FLRAA (Future
Long-Range Assault Aircraft) and FARA (Future Attack and
Reconnaissance Aircraft) are due to deliver a UH-60 Black Hawk
replacement and a long-delayed successor to the OH-58 Kiowa
by the end of the 2020s. Indeed, so pressing is the FARA ‘need’
that the US Army is pushing hard for Industry to exploit novel
contracting and production initiatives to bring the entry into
service date as far ‘left’ as possible.
FLRAA has two competing design concepts already flying;
Bell have so far met or exceeded all baseline requirements with
their tiltrotor V-280 Valor, achieving level flight speeds in excess
of 300kts and successfully acquiring follow-on funding from the
Army to examine some ‘stretch’ capability areas such as optionally
manned operations. The Sikorsky / Boeing demonstrator, the SB>1
Defiant has not, to date, shown the same level of progress and
maturity. This complex coaxial rotored / thrust compounded design
has yet (as of November 2019) to reach speeds much faster than
a hover taxy. The rear mounted propulsor, essential to achieve
the hoped-for high cruise speed, has yet (publicly at least) to be
engaged in flight. From an objective viewpoint, it seems that Bell
are at a considerable technical advantage.
FARA too is proceeding apace. Four designs from Sikorsky, Bell,
AVX/L3 and Karem Aviation have already been revealed, with only
Boeing yet to unveil their concept before the due March 2020
down-selection date, when the Army will award two companies
with a contract to build, fly and demonstrate their machines in
an aggressive timescale. The FARA field has significant variety in
design concepts; some are traditional tandem cockpits, others side
by side. Some exploit thrust compounding; others lift compounding.
Some have single rotors; some have coaxial rotors.
With the AH-64 Apache in the midst of a complex digital
upgrade to AH-64E standard, where does that leave the Army’s
needs for vertical heavy lift?