After decades of R&D, the race to replace the UH-60 helicopter is entering its last few years.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.When the stakes for space missions are at their highest, solid rocket motors meet the challenge
Rapid response is crucial in defense, and the instant thrust provided by SRMs provide a tactical advantage.
“We don’t have the time or luxury to wait for people,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said. “They’ve got to keep pace with us if they want to do business with us.”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Dark horse design house AVX has never built a complete aircraft. The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft competition just might change that.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The Army will hold five demonstrations this year for the electronic backbone of its future manned aircraft and drones. A forerunner is already entering service.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The Sikorsky-Boeing super-copter has just over an hour of flight time, but the Army says it has all the data it needs to accelerate the program. How?
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
How can Army accelerate its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft when one leading contender started flight tests just seven days ago?
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. The thing that delayed Defiant, it turns out, is the same thing that makes it really attractive to the Army.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Reassessing America’s defense strategy for a safer future
In an unpredictable world, a strong and innovative military is essential to protect the United States and its economic interests.
“We … are looking at opportunities to do a road trip,” Bell executive Keith Flail told me. “Can we take the V-280 to a handful of key Army and Marine Corps installations to show capabilities to the force?”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“It’s much more like a fighter aircraft than a helicopter,” Sikorsky’s test pilot tells me in the video as he maneuvers gleefully.
“Whoa, warn me next time!” I say after a particularly nifty/nauseating roll.
One variant, in Army colors, has missile racks sticking out of what was originally the passenger cabin — a conversion that units could potentially install or remove as needed in the field. The other, with Marine Corps markings, is a sleeker thoroughbred gunship with internal weapons bays, stealth features, and folding wings to fit in shipboard hangars.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
WASHINGTON: After months of hints, the Army announced Friday it wants competing prototypes of a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft flying by 2023. But there’s a deal of uncertainty — even anxiety — about what the Army wants. “Industry can develop whatever the government tells them what they want, if it sticks to the requirements and…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. CRYSTAL CITY: This is the year Sikorsky catches up on the Future Vertical Lift program, company executives told reporters Monday. Yes, last year arch-rival Bell Helicopter was first to fly its entry in the Joint Multi-Role flight demonstration, the official lead-in to FVL. But this year Sikorsky will fly not one but three different aircraft…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
AUSA: Bell Helicopter is moving right along with its new V-280 Valor, a tiltrotor being built under the Army-led, multiservice Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program. The V-280 – which flies at 280 knots cruising speed — resembles the bigger V-22 Osprey built by Bell and Boeing for the Marine Corps, Air Force Special Operations Command…
By Richard Whittle
AUSA: Lockheed Martin company Sikorsky and teammate Boeing are taking a deliberate approach to building their prototype for the Army-led Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program, the SB>1 Defiant, officials told our contributor Richard Whittle when he visited their booth. Based on Sikorsky’s award-winning X2 technology demonstrator, the Defiant is a compound helicopter with coaxial rotors…
By Richard Whittle and Colin Clark
