By Rebecca L. Grant, Ph.D., Vice President, Lexington Institute.
October 28, 2024 – Drones and unmanned systems are a big part of the Army’s future, but so is a revolutionary manned aircraft: FLRAA, the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft. Read my analysis from Real Clear Defense below and here. In August, acquisition officials signed off on Milestone B, launching FLRAA toward first flight in 2026 and a potential $70 billion program.
FLRAA is an advanced tiltrotor that combines the hover of a helicopter with the level flight range and speed of a fixed-wing aircraft. Recent insights – from Afghanistan to the Pacific island archipelagos – show that the Army needs a maneuver and assault platform with range far beyond what a helicopter can provide. As the centerpiece of future vertical lift, FLRAA will be the platform responsible for operating with soldiers at the high forward edge of a much-expanded battlespace.
The tiltrotor will be based on the V-280 Valor built by Bell Textron, winner of the competition down-select in December 2022. Bell is on contract to build six prototypes in this new phase of the program.
On the battlefield, the FLRAA tiltrotor will offer “truly transformational capability to Army aviators,” said Maj. Gen. Michael C. McCurry, 17th chief of the U.S. Army Aviation Branch. “Future battlefields require expanded maneuver,” he said at the Milestone B announcement. “With roughly twice the range and twice the speed, FLRAA brings unmatched combat capability to the joint force.”
The next big event is Critical Design Review, where program managers make final choices to close risk and complete technical trade-offs during engineering and manufacturing development. As FLRAA moves forward, success depends on three key factors: soldiers, software, and of course, the schedule.
Soldiers. FLRAA is the first new-design Army aircraft to come along in many years, so the Army is seeking detailed feedback from soldiers. A tiltrotor is also new for the Army (the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy all fly variants of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor.) Experienced flight crews from the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade worked with cockpit mock-ups of FLRAA back in August. “What they think about is where are the controls, are they easy to get to, can they get in and out of their seats quickly,” said Col. Jeffrey A. Poquette, FLRAA project manager. Soldier feedback on the tactical environment flows into the considerations for Critical Design Review. “I think the soldiers who tested the platform today really appreciate that tiltrotor technology is the necessary technology to get us to that twice as far, twice as fast aspect of an assault aircraft,” concluded Poquette.
Modular Open Systems Approach. While FLRAA will be fielded in the 2030s, the challenge is to ensure upgrades to mission systems on the tiltrotor can be integrated smoothly for the Army of 2040 and beyond.
Software – broadly defined – is a conduit for innovation, but it can also be one of the biggest headaches for modern military aircraft programs. The Defense Department’s answer is the Modular Open Systems Approach or MOSA. MOSA has been a dominating interest for the Army in its future vertical lift portfolio. The basic idea was codified in a 2019 directive mandating a Modular Open Systems Approach for all major defense programs.
“The Army intends to spiral in new capabilities but in order to do that you’ve got to have the system, the digital backbone,” explained Chet Treloar of Collins Aerospace in a recent article.
FLRAA will be MOSA-born. Bell, as an aircraft manufacturer with legions of commercial customers, had no wish to rule the roost as a mission systems integrator. As a result, Bell’s V-280 demonstrator emerged with a “digital backbone” concept. Keen adoption of the approach set the V-280 apart during the competition, contributing to its good score in the architecture sub-component of the 2022 contract award. As noted by the GAO, “the government’s MOSA and architecture requirements” and the ensuing cost and schedule credibility were a top priority.
In the future, FLRAA will be able to integrate new capabilities – anything from air-launched effects to links to unmanned systems, new munitions and sensors. This approach ensures the tiltrotor can be continuously adapted to the information environment of 2030, 2040 and beyond. “I believe that if we move to a truly data-centric approach to fighting, it’ll revolutionize most of warfare,” General James Rainey, Commander, U.S. Army Futures Command, told an AUSA audience last year.
Schedule. FLRAA is on a brisk schedule for first flight in 2026, low-rate production in 2028, then deliveries to the field in 2030. The advantages of MOSA and the inputs from soldiers should prove enormously helpful in sticking to the schedule. The Army expects to invest up to $70 billion in the program, so confidence at Critical Design Review is important to keep the program affordable and on track. MOSA is also a pathway for autonomous operations over the longer term.
As the Army and Bell work together on FLRAA, Army aviation is blazing the trail for better, more efficient capability upgrades in defense aviation programs.
Dr. Rebecca Grant is a national security analyst and vice president, defense programs for the Lexington Institute, a nonprofit public-policy research organization in Arlington, Virginia. She has held positions at the Pentagon, in the private sector and has led an aerospace and defense consultancy. Follow her on Twitter at @rebeccagrantdc and the Lexington Institute @LexNextDC.
This article was originally published on the Lexington Institute: Army’s Future Tiltrotor Blazes A Trail In Software, Soldier Feedback (From RealClearDefense) | Lexington Institute