“Especially from an X2 standpoint, the largest procurement out there is really NGRC. And that recapitalization of the helicopter fleet in Europe is the largest thing we see today at least in the next five or 10 years,” said Sikorsky boss Rich Benton.
The Army spent 2024 pushing its new “transformation in contact” initiative while also pivoting away from several key weapon development initiatives.
The GPS network continues to prove its unmatched reliability, and it’s only getting stronger.
In 2024, the US Army moved out on plans to better team up soldiers and machines on the battlefield, while facing some policy and technology challenges.
"We don't [want to] inadvertently allow the resources we're spending on soldiers and families to crowd out the modernization that we have to continue with,” Wormuth told reporters.
The service wants information on Group 4 or 5 drone designs that can carry a range of sensors, and also launch new weapons like the developmental launched effects.
Special operators had planned for FARA to take the role of the AH-6, but the program’s cancellation “changed our equation,” a SOCOM official said.
The network transport architecture for NGC2 could be a hybrid approach that combines high assurance communications with 5G, WiFi, and multi-orbit satellites.
Army acquisition head Doug Bush said he and Army Futures Command head Gen. James Rainey expect to have a plan rolled out sometime this summer.
Sikorsky is using remaining FARA dollars to test out the new T901 engine in anticipation of integrating it on a UH-60 M Black Hawk later this year.
Boeing recently announced the Block II helo's first maiden flight and plans to deliver the first production aircraft to the service in the coming weeks.
Gray Eagle STOL and Gray Eagle 25M are the best options for Army aviation as it assesses where to move from its current inflection point.
Knowing when to build on commercial systems and when to develop something new can be the difference between parity and information dominance.
“The Connecticut delegation has questions about why, with that [FY24] appropriation in hand, this happened,” said Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn.
NGRC requirements mainly cover a future medium lift helicopter that costs no more than €35 million ($38.2 million) per aircraft and provisionally planned to enter service between 2035 and 2040.
The Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) platform joins the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) on the budget cutting room floor for America's largest service.
UH-60M Blackhawks from Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and CH-47F Block II Chinooks from Boeing would have ended production in 2030 if the Army kept FARA going, a top service official testified.