![]() ![]() It must deploy rapidly, see without being seen and inform commanders at many levels. Sullivan, Chief of Staff of the Army, wrote:Ĭomanche will be the eyes and ears of the commander on the lethal future battlefield. In fact, Rugen’s sketch of FARA capabilities and synergies sounds very familiar to anyone acquainted with the Army’s failed acquisition of the Boeing/Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche. It’s a synergistic idea that stretches well back in military thinking. FARA will leverage other penetrating assets from missiles and UAVs to other aircraft. It won’t be just the weapons that hang from its own pylons that FARA will use to fix and degrade the enemy he says. He also emphasized that FARA will be part of an “ecosystem” of platforms, strike vectors (think cyber, EW) and air-launched effects in any high-threat campaign. General Rugen launched into his thinking on the critical path for future multi-domain operations, including the quotes above. Instead it told us to reach out to Army public affairs. Rugen was, how do you see Apache and the FVL platforms operating together? Has there been thought or analysis devoted to mixed operations TTP, even at this early stage?īoeing emailed boilerplate responses, offering no detail - or confirmation - that it has devoted any energy to Apache/FVL teaming concepts. It didn’t turn out as expected.įARA & Apache – Together In All Kinds of Weather? ![]() Still, this reporter reached out to the Army’s FVL Cross Functional Team and to Boeing for what was to be a discussion of possible tactics, techniques and procedures for Apache/FVL. It’s still early days and there are only prototypes of the Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) and as yet no FARA hardware. So what sort of mixed operating tactics is the Army mulling/conceiving for Apache and its new FVL platforms? ![]() The two announcements spurred the thought that Apache, the Army’s long-touted heavyweight premier attack helicopter and its forthcoming lightweight scout (FARA) would be operating together for decades to come (the Army plans to operate AH-64 at least through 2045). Last month, the company announced that Morocco would buy 24 AH-64Es, becoming the 17th country to acquire the Apache. Ironically, the idea has been broached just as Boeing’s celebrated achieving a milestone of 2,500 Apaches manufactured since September 1983. will come to the fight once the enemy has been softened up. FARA will help pave the way for the Apache which. Nowhere in these public communications from the Army is FARA mentioned as a penetrating strike platform, paving the way (along with other assets) for the AH-64.Ī rendering of Sikorsky's Raider X FARA prototype. The release added that, “For its reconnaissance missions, the FARA aircraft prioritizes a lightweight platform and mission system technologies for increased aircraft mobility and survivability.” Wins, the recently retired commander of the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC), wrote in March 2019 that FARA “will be a light-attack and reconnaissance aircraft that will be able to avoid radar detection and operate in densely populated megacities.”Īs recently as June, a team from the Army’s Picatinny Arsenal engaged in prototyping a 20mm Gatling gun for use with the Advanced Rotorcraft Armament and Protection System that will be used on FARA characterized the aircraft as returning “a dedicated aerial reconnaissance capability to Army Aviation, filling the void left by the retired OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopter.” defenses on the first day of any conflict. According to Army FVL, it will penetrate enemy. A rendering of Bell's 360 Invictus FARA prototype. ![]()
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