US Army cancels FARA helicopter program, makes other cuts in major aviation shakeupIn addition to halting the FARA competition, service leaders want to end UH-60 V Blackhawk production, postpone moving the Improved Turbine Engine Program into production, and phase out legacy drones
The US Army is cancelling its next generation Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, service officials announced today, taking a potential multi-billion-dollar contract off the table and throwing the service’s long-term aviation plans into doubt.
In addition, the Army plans to end production on the UH-60 V Black Hawk in fiscal 2025, due to “significant cost growth,” keep General Electric’s Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) in the development phase instead of moving it into production, and phase the Shadow and Raven unmanned aerial systems out of the fleet, the service added.
All told, it reflects a massive shift in the Army’s aviation strategy and upends years of planning. There is also an ironic sense of history repeating: the decision to end FARA comes two decades to the month after the Army ended its plans to procure the RAH-66 Comanche and nearly 16 years after it terminated work on the ARH-70A Arapaho, both aircraft designed to replace the Kiowa — the same helicopter FARA was supposed to, finally, replace.
The reason for ending FARA, Army leaders told a small group of reporters ahead of the announcement, is a reflection of what war looks like in the modern era.
“We absolutely are paying attention [to world events] and adjusting, because we could go to war tonight, this weekend,” head of Army Futures Command Gen. James Rainey told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday.
“We are learning from the battlefield — especially Ukraine — that aerial reconnaissance has fundamentally changed,” Army Chief Gen. Randy George said in a press release. “Sensors and weapons mounted on a variety of unmanned systems and in space are more ubiquitous, further reaching and more inexpensive than ever before.”...
While observations from places like Ukraine and Gaza are part of the impetus for FARA’s cancellation,
the need to free up billions of dollars to invest in unmanned systems was also a prime factor, Rainey and other aviation leaders explained.
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[Los programas que mantienen apoyo son:]
- Ink a new multi-year procurement deal with Lockheed-Sikorsky for the UH-60
M Blackhawk line. [No el V]
- Give Boeing the greenlight to formally begin production on the CH-47F Block II Chinook.
- Continue Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) development as planned.
- Additional investments for developing and buying unmanned aerial reconnaissance systems like the future tactical unmanned systems and launched effects.
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Unmanned Focus
While FARA may be dead, Army leaders still envision a future with aviators in a cockpit, at least for now. But in the short term, they need to spend more on unmanned capabilities.
For now, that future will not include the legacy Shadow and Raven unmanned aerial systems. Instead the Army wants to funnel dollars toward future tactical unmanned systems.
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/02/arm ... n-shakeup/