AUSA 2023 — Two Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft prototypes could soon be up in the air now that the Army has begun accepting deliveries of General Electric’s delayed Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP). The service was aiming for initial ITEP deliveries in 2022, but delays blamed on manufacturing and supply chain woes pushed that target date back. But the service said today that on Sept. 28 it accepted the first T901 flight test engine under the ITEP umbrella and a second engine is currently undergoing acceptance.
“Both engines are on-track to be delivered by the government to the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competitive prototype vendors by the end of October 2023,” the Army wrote in a press release today.
The new engine is slated to power both the Army’s FARA fleet and, over time, will be integrated into legacy systems. The announcement comes just days before the Association of the United States Army conference kicks off in Washington, DC, and both FARA competitors are expected to be in attendance touting their respective bids: Bell-Textron with the 360 Invictus and Sikorsky with its Raider X.
The service’s top acquisition official, Doug Bush, told reporters in March that first flight would likely come in 2024 if things remained on track. The Army did not provide an update today on that timeline. Earlier this year, both companies said their respective helo prototypes were more than 95 percent complete and they were continuing to work on the system design until engines were ready to be integrated.
In addition to powering the FARA fleet, the Army envisions replacing AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter’s T700 engines with the T901 to improve fuel efficiency, range, loiter time, fuel consumption and provide commonality.
As such, those engine delivery delays also impacted Black Hawk and Apache integration plans, Program Executive Officer for Aviation, Maj. Gen. Robert Barrie, told reporters in April. At that time, he anticipated a two-year delay integrating the new engine into UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters before moving on to the Apache fleet.
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