The U.S. Army’s 35 modernization priorities all survived budget reviews in the first months of the Biden Administration for the fiscal 2022 budget request, but there may be a wave of major spending changes in fiscal 2023.
With the U.S. Army looking to maintain the capability of its legacy helicopter fleet even as it moves to modernize the force with advanced rotorcraft, continued progress with a new engine program is becoming crucial to its plans.
A solicitation for the Adaptive Resilient Engineered Structures program, published on April 20 by the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, calls for technologies that could be demonstrated in a relevant operational environment—or a Technology Readiness Level of 6—between fiscal 2023 and 2026.
A “special notice” published on Feb. 2 by the Tactical Aviation and Ground Munitions Project Office defines a plan to stage of shoot-off of candidate designs in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.
Sikorsky and Boeing have taken the wraps off their Defiant X offering for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft requirement, and the design differs only in detail externally from the SB-1 Defiant technology demonstrator now in flight test.
Development of compact, efficient rotary internal-combustion engines able to run on jet fuel has been boosted by U.S. Army contracts to advance the technology for unmanned-aircraft propulsion and rotorcraft auxiliary-power applications.
The Army ordered the Iron Dome systems in August 2019 to plug a gap in defenses against cruise missiles while it continues to shop for a permanent solution.
The U.S. Army conducted its first flight of a NCH-47 Chinook equipped with the GE Aviation T408 engine, which is the same turboshaft engine outfitting the CH-53K King Stallion.
The U.S. Army expected to take delivery on June 30 of the Enhanced Medium Altitude Reconnaissance and Surveillance System (EMARSS)-V from Sierra Nevada’s upgrade facility in Hagerstown, Maryland.
The U.S. Army is seeking $513.5 million in fiscal 2021 for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, up from $398.3 in fiscal 2020, the first year of the program
The service’s fiscal 2021 budget request once again attempts to defer Block II upgrades for conventional forces Chinooks, but includes money to upgrade special operations forces MH-47Gs.
The U.S. Army has outlined its vision of a mission system architecture for its Future Vertical Lift platforms that will allow upgrades to be fielded rapidly to counter emerging threats and overcome obsolescence over their life cycle.
