U.S. Army chooses two companies to produce prototypes for armed recon helicopter project
NewsMarch 26, 2020
WASHINGTON. The U.S. Army has selected Bell Helicopter Textron (Fort Worth, Texas) and Sikorsky Aircraft (Stratford, Connecticut) for the design and testing of the Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Competitive Prototypes to continue into phase two of the program. The two vendors selected are
The Army's Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team, which is managing FARA, is on a path to fill a gap in its aviation capabilities left by the earlier retirement of its OH-58D Kiowa Warrior scout helicopters; the service could ultimately replace nearly half of its AH-64 Apache attack helicopters with the winning FARA design.
At present, the Army hopes to have flying prototypes of both the Bell Invictus and the Sikorsky Raider X ready to begin testing in fiscal year 2022, with the winning design chosen in fiscal year 2024.
