Tag: future-vertical-lift

  • Army’s long-range assault aircraft fuselages to be built in Kansas

    Army’s long-range assault aircraft fuselages to be built in Kansas

    [ad_1]

    Bell Textron will build the U.S. Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, or FLRAA, fuselages in Wichita, Kansas, the company announced this week.

    The company won the Army’s bid to build FLRAA in late 2022 following a competition in which it and a Sikorsky-Boeing team flew technology demonstrators for several years to evaluate aircraft capabilities and drive out risk to a future program of record.

    Bell will use an existing facility near Textron Aviation Defense and plans to start work there “in the next several months,” according to a statement.

    The company will also conduct supporting work at several of its advanced manufacturing facilities in Texas, like its Advanced Composite Center in Fort Worth. Final assembly will take place in Amarillo.

    The Army’s FLRAA program moved out of technology development and into the critical engineering and manufacturing development phase in August.

    The FLRAA program is estimated to be worth approximately $70 billion across its lifespan, including foreign military sales, and is set to replace roughly 2,000 Black Hawk utility helicopters.

    The future advanced tiltrotor will not serve as a one-for-one replacement for existing aircraft, but it is expected around 2030 to take over the roles of the Black Hawk, long the Army’s workhorse.

    The FLRAA program’s initial unit has already been delayed by one year due to protests by Sikorsky’s parent company, Lockheed Martin, over the service’s choice of Textron Bell’s advanced tiltrotor design. Sikorsky and Boeing’s design featured coaxial rotor blades.

    The Government Accountability Office rejected Lockheed’s protest in April 2023.

    The Army will now equip the first unit with the capability in fiscal 2031. A limited user test is expected sometime in FY27 to FY28.

    The contract award in 2022 includes nine options — entering the engineering and manufacturing development phase means the Army will exercise the first option, under which Bell will deliver detailed aircraft design and build six prototypes.

    The first aircraft in this phase is expected to fly in 2026, with low-rate initial production slated to begin in 2028.

    “As Bell prepares for the next stage of FLRAA’s engineering and manufacturing development phase, we are committed to investing in advanced manufacturing to ensure we deliver exceptional performance at an affordable cost to our customer, Lisa Atherton, Bell’s president and CEO, said in the statement.

    “Textron has a rich history with the state of Kansas as well as the city of Wichita,” she said, “and we are proud to deepen that relationship as we establish this new facility.”

    Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • US Army buys long-flying solar drones to watch over Pacific units

    US Army buys long-flying solar drones to watch over Pacific units

    [ad_1]

    The Army’s 1st Multi-Domain Task Force has used a small number of Kraus Hamdani Aerospace K1000 Ultra Long-Endurance, solar-powered unmanned aircraft system across the Pacific theater in places like the Philippines and Guam in recent years. Now the Pentagon has ordered $20 million worth of the systems for the unit as well as special operators.

    The Pentagon made the award through the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program, one of the largest awards since the fund’s 2022 creation.

    The K1000ULE is designed to “mimic nature by utilizing onboard artificial intelligence to silently glide through the air like a bird and generate clean onboard energy,” an Oct. 30 company statement reads. “The K1000ULE is the longest-endurance, fully electric, zero-emissions autonomous aircraft in its size and weight category.”

    The K1000 will provide Aerial Tier Network Extension for communications, Electronic Warfare and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance capabilities, the statement lists.

    “Over time, we have matured our technology in line with the requirements of the U.S. Army and continue to align the K1000ULE to meet the needs of the warfighter in a dynamically changing environment,” Fatema Hamdani, Kraus Hamdani Aerospace CEO and co-founder, said.

    Defense News witnessed the 1st MDTF’s Extended Range Sensing and Effects Company use the K1000 on a remote island airfield in the Philippines during an annual bilateral drill called Balikatan this spring. The aircraft spent its days flying above the South China Sea collecting data for the company.

    The Army has also been using the aircraft in a variety of other experiments over the past several years like the Edge exercise and Project Convergence.

    The lightweight K1000, which features solar panels on its wings, previously broke the endurance record for class 2 unmanned aerial systems by flying for 76 hours. That category currently applies to drones weighing between 21 and 55 lbs.

    The aircraft does not have landing gear and relies on 3D-printed skids that can be swapped out after they wear down.

    The K1000 is difficult to detect, with most sensors and radars mistaking it for a bird, according to Kraus engineers on site in the Philippines.

    The aircraft fits inside a standard case, and it takes users roughly 10 minutes to unload, assemble and launch. The drone takes off from a moving vehicle as it catches the wind. In the Philippines, it took off from the roof of a black SUV.

    The Army is retiring its Shadow UAS program, and Kraus believes the K1000 is a good candidate to fill both small and large UAS capabilities with a logistics footprint of smaller drones, the statement notes.

    Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.

    [ad_2]

    Source link