WASHINGTON — The Army has notified a handful of companies that they have been selected to move onto the next phase of the service’s Flight School Next program for training aviators down at Fort Rucker.
In November, several companies — comprised of both prime contractors and subcontractors — were gunning to be the Army’s solution for its future training helicopter fleet and the coinciding curriculum, Breaking Defense reported at the time. This week, three of those companies — Bell, M1 and Lockheed Martin — confirmed to Breaking Defense that they have been selected to move onto Phase II of the competition, which a Bell spokesperson said entails providing more information about their proposal and “illustrating the full-scale of our turnkey solution.”
Bell is offering its 505 model helicopter for the program and M1 is serving as one of the primes for Robinson Helicopter’s R-66 model. Lockheed Martin is serving as a prime but has yet to announce which helo subcontractor the company is teaming up with. The primes for Flight School Next will be responsible for the finances, big-picture repairs and logistical support, while the subs will handle supplying the helicopters, supply chain management, component-level repairs and most of the flight school curriculum.
“We are honored to move forward in the Army’s Flight School Next program,” Jeffrey Schloesser, senior vice president of strategic pursuits at Bell, said in a company release Monday. “With Bell’s extensive history in military flight training, the proven Bell 505, and the expertise of our teammates, we are confident that our turnkey solution will support the Army in developing the next generation of Aviation Warfighters.”
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The Army declined to comment on or confirm which companies would be moving on to the next phase of the competition.
A call-for-solutions notice released in December said the winner of Flight School Next will provide training for 800 to 1,500 rotary wing pilots per year with a period of performance of 26 years, and that the contract is planned to be awarded by September 2026. Apart from acquiring a different helo fleet, the Army is also looking to shake up the contract vehicle as it will have a new contractor-owned, contractor-operated (COCO) model, which allows the companies to own and run the program instead of the current system, which is managed by the government.
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Along with Bell, Lockheed and Robinson, the incumbent flight school vendor Airbus replied to the CSO notice bidding its UH-72 Lakota fleet. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment this week on whether Airbus was selected for the next phase of the program.
Senior service officials have previously said that the Army is looking for a different fleet for Flight School Next because the Lakota is too advanced for training and too expensive due in part to its dual-engine design. For instance, then-Vice Chief of the Army Gen. James Mingus said last May that it’s a “very sophisticated aircraft that almost flies itself.” With the Army wanting to get aviators back to basic skills to avoid future accidents, at a time when helicopter accidents have been more prevalent, Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, commanding general of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, told reporters last fall that the service is looking for a “very simple aircraft.”
According to the notice posted last month, one of the qualifications of a “simple aircraft” includes a single engine. The Airbus spokesperson refuted the claims about the aircraft being too complex and expensive, stating that the company was considering how to create a “hybrid” single engine solution.
“We submitted a proposal that reduces Army training costs while meeting its stated training objectives. This includes changes to the multiple contracts supporting Fort Rucker, altering the instructional syllabus, maximizing the UH-72A’s inherent training capabilities, and exploring a hybrid training option with a single engine aircraft alongside the UH-72A,” the spokesperson told Breaking Defense in an email. “Our solution is affordable, sustainable, retains the safest rotary wing trainer in Fort Rucker history, and honors the U.S. taxpayer’s $2.2B investment in the program.”
As Breaking Defense previously reported, Leonardo was also vying for Flight School Next with its TH-73 helo, with Boeing as the prime contractor. Leonardo deferred to Boeing for comments on whether the companies were moving forward, but Boeing declined to comment on the matter.
MD Helicopters with its 530 helo and Enstrom Helicopters with its 480B model were also in the running for the contract, though spokespeople for both companies declined to comment on if they would be moving forward.
Though the Army said it plans on awarding a contract for Flight School Next in September, and it has begun the down selection process, Congress will likely be keeping an eye out on the timeline given a provision within the recently signed National Defense Authorization Act.
The provision states that funds cannot be “obligated or expended to solicit proposals or award a contract for the implementation of any transformation of the Initial Entry Rotary Wing training program” at Fort Rucker in 2026 until the service’s secretary provides a “detailed report” on a one-year pilot program which began last spring. The pilot program, otherwise known as the ” Part 141 Proof of concept flight training model,” is “paving the way” for Flight School Next as it plans to help transition flight training from a government owned to a COCO model, according to the Army.
The NDAA also requires the secretary to provide an analysis on the cost-effectiveness and “rationale for any proposed changes to training systems or platforms.”
The Army did not respond to a request for comment regarding the NDAA provision by press time.
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, who serves as the representative for Alabama’s third district where Fort Rucker is located, also did not respond to a request for comment.