Griffon Aerospace’s Valiant UAS.
AURORA, Colorado—The U.S. Army announced April 24 that it awarded options to both Griffon Aerospace and Textron Systems to conduct flight demonstrations for its Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft System (FTUAS) program.
The announcement for the second option of the FTUAS rapid prototyping program follows a critical design review (CDR) and prototype baseline for uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) offerings from the two companies. The service, in a statement, said following flight demonstrations and soldier touch points for the prototypes, the two companies will deliver production representative systems for use in both testing and operational environments.
The awards come after a September 2023 announcement that the Army had narrowed the competition to the two companies, eliminating Sierra Nevada Corp. and Northrop Grumman from the competition. A proposal from AeroVironment had also previously been rejected.
For the program, Griffon is proposing its Valiant UAS—a system that includes wing-mounted booms with stop-and-fold rotors for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL).
Textron is offering its Aerosonde HQ 4.8 Hybrid-Quad UAS, which has four boom-mounted vertical thrusters and a tail-mounted propeller.
The Army plans FTUAS to replace its Textron RQ-7 Shadow. In 2022, the service picked Aerovironment’s Jump 20 for the first increment.
The service is proposing $148 million in procurement and $128 million in research and development in its fiscal 2025 budget for FTUAS.
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