US Army preps mission tech for future helicopter, despite engine delay

WASHINGTON — Despite a delay in recent engine technology, the U.S. Army is continuous to develop systems for its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft that transcend the airframe, in keeping with the two-star general in control of the service’s vertical lift modernization.

As a part of the Improved Turbine Engine Program, a General Electric Aerospace-developed engine will replace those within the UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters, and power the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft. However the FARA effort is delayed since prototype flights reliant on the brand new engine won’t happen until the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, in keeping with the most recent Army budget documents.

The plan was to execute a primary flight for every aircraft in late 2023. That flight schedule had already been postponed by roughly a 12 months, in keeping with a comparison of FY22 and FY23 budget documents.

Each competitors — Textron’s Bell and Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky — have said their FARA prototypes are built and just awaiting the brand new engine.

The Army has collected “a ton of information” throughout the FARA program already, Maj. Gen. Wally Rugen, the service’s Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team director, told Defense News in an interview.

“I do know everyone’s wanted to fireplace off the engines and fly, and I do too,” he said ahead of the Army Aviation Association of America’s annual conference, happening April 26-28 in Nashville, Tennessee. “But [the Army] is tying a developmental engine to a developmental aircraft. We didn’t try this with [the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft].”

The Army chosen Bell to construct FLRAA in December after constructing competitive technology demonstrators and flying them for several years. A Sikorsky and Boeing team lost that competition.

FARA is a “much higher bar,” Rugen said. “I might argue that a scout aircraft might be technically a bit more advanced than perhaps an assault aircraft.”

“So the engine is slowing us down,” he added, “but we’re willing to take that to get the transformational capabilities that ITEP goes to bring, which is the particular fuel consumption and better shaft horsepower.”

Rugen said an engine was within the test cell two weeks ago, demonstrating 3,100 shaft horsepower.

‘Double whammy’

General Electric’s problems with the ITEP engine began in consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We got our butt kicked in COVID,” Rugen said. GE not only bumped into problems with sub-suppliers, but additionally “had a brain drain” with the exit of experienced quality-control managers, engineers and other technical employees during that point, he added.

“That’s a double whammy of a talent deficit and a supply chain problem,” Rugen explained. “I believe they’re done with any excuses on that and so they’re moving out. Am I thrilled? No. But it surely just becomes triage and a really clinical means of how can we keep our momentum … and we’re committed to it.”

During a hearing last week before the House Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee, Army acquisition chief Doug Bush said recent ITEP delays are specifically related to quality control of subtier vendors.

GE “had trouble making some recent components including some recent methods like 3D printing to the extent of quality required for engines that we are able to actually put in test aircraft,” he said.

The corporate, he added, believes this system is “under control. My team of experts believes their current estimates are reasonable, but it surely is a delay.”

The Army has also begun an evaluation of alternatives for the FARA program, which can also be slowing down the trouble, Bush said, adding that the Army won’t reach the technology maturation phase of this system until the primary quarter of FY26.

The Army plans to finish engineering and manufacturing development for ITEP within the third quarter of FY26, in keeping with FY24 budget documents, and won’t reach initial operational capability until the third quarter of FY29, an almost two-year delay from the timeline based on FY23 budget documents.

Within the meantime

While the Army waits for the engine, it’s developing the weapons systems and a critical modular open-system architecture for the aircraft, Rugen said. “That is our effort to claw back schedule and claw back scope.”

The Army continues to release draft design requirements to industry for the FARA weapon system, and the service continues to take steps to mitigate risk to the event effort, he added.

The eventual modular open-system architecture is supposed to host mission systems reminiscent of survivability equipment and the Army’s internally developed Modular Effects Launcher. The open system allows the Army to usher in recent technology when it is prepared and relevant, Rugen said.

The Modular Effects Launcher is already gaining traction with other services; particularly U.S. Special Operations Command and the Marine Corps are adopting the technology, Rugen noted.

Constructing the weapons systems architecture includes efforts to concentrate on FARA as a “deep sensing” capability, something that may see farther and use missiles, rockets or nonlethal effects like electronic warfare to attack threats at greater distances.

And the mission systems architecture is supposed to attach soldiers and sensors on the battlefield through a strong aerial tier network. The Army Requirements Oversight Council will resolve whether to proceed to advance the aerial tier network before the tip of this calendar 12 months, Rugen said.

The service previously evaluated technologies throughout the architecture through experimentation exercises like Project Convergence and the aerial tier-focused event Edge, heading into its third 12 months in May, Rugen noted.