MILITARY ROTORCRAFT DEVELOPMENT - NO MORE ‘STOVEPIPES'

New rotorcraft are going to come with new abilities founded on open systems that provide easier upgrade paths and cheaper through life costs.

- Andrew Drwiega

The main manufacturers of military rotorcraft in the United States and Europe are at various stages of substantially transforming the performance of their designs for what will be their future platforms. The driving force behind this is the adoption of digital technology and improved manufacturing techniques and materials.

But it is also the product of the last 20 years of counter-insurgency campaigns, where many helicopters were proven to be unsuitable for operations in ‘hot and high conditions, particularly those experienced in Afghanistan.

However, the rule is never to prepare for the conflict that has just gone. With the chance of peer-to-peer or near-peer conflict now resurfacing, there are more elements to consider above range, speed, endurance, and improved maintenance, although these remain key attributes that virtually all military rotorcraft need to have.

More than ever the rotorcraft must be part of the military network, whether gathering intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), acting as a communications node, or delivering kinetic effects to the standard airborne logistical transport asset.

To do this, they must be able to share voice and data in real-time. They must also be able to operate close to, or in, the opponent’s anti-access aerial denial (A2AD) zone - particularly those with a kinetic role.

FLRAA/FARA

US Army Aviation Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) and Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) are due to be fielded around 2030. The main US rotorcraft manufacturers of Bell, Boeing, and Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin are the primes with a variety of compound and tiltrotor designs.