Sikorsky’s Raider X, advanced compound helicopter design (FARA prototype)

The Warzone reports,

The U.S. Army says it is cancelling its Future Attack Recon Aircraft (FARA) program which had been centered on the acquisition of a new type of high-speed armed scout helicopter. This is part of a larger restructuring the Army plans for its future fleets of helicopters and other crewed and uncrewed aircraft.

This is essentially half of the Army’s Future Vertical Lift program. The Coast Guard has been following the program in anticipation of development of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that would offer “twice the range and twice the speed” of existing helicopter types. We might still see that in a version of the Bell V-280 for land-based operations.

Note this video is four years old, so the prototype has been flying for a long time. I have heard concern about the downwash, but if you look at the windsock visible from time 2:20, downwash does not seem to be excessive. My back of the envelope calculations suggests the overpressure directly under the rotor discuses would be about 67% higher under the V-280’s props compared to the H-60J’s rotor. That might be mitigated at the hoist pickup point because, unlike in the H-60, the props are not rotating over the fuselage of the V-280.

It does appear that the H-60s may have a new engine option in the future.

The FARA cancellation is part of what the Army is currently calling the Aviation Investment Rebalance. The service says it will delay production of the General Electric T901 turboshaft engine developed under the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), which had been heavily tied to FARA, as part of this plan. The immediate focus will now be on integrating T901s onto existing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters.

GE Aerospace claims, “The T901 engine provides 50% more power 25% better specific fuel consumption, and reduced life cycle costs -with fewer parts, a simpler design, and proven, reliable technology.” 

Basically, the Army has decided that Unmanned aircraft and Satellites can do the job of scouting better and cheaper, as well as safer, than a helicopter. This means they will be putting more money into those areas.

The Coast Guard might still benefit in its maritime domain awareness and its search function. I have not put much thought into the possibility that UAS (and perhaps satellites) might supplement or replace fixed wing for the SAR search function or MEP detection, but those are real possibilities.

I am disappointed that we are not likely to see a ship-based helicopter with twice the range and twice the speed any time soon, but on the other hand, we are already using UAS for search that have many times the endurance of the H-65 or even the H-60. For that function, endurance is more important that speed.