On 14 February, the army leaders from the United States and the United Kingdom signed a Future Vertical Lift Cooperative Program Feasibility Assessment project agreement on behalf of their respective countries’ services, promising to collaborate to ensure interoperability between the two countries’ future rotorcraft aviation forces. The two nations will share information regarding their rotorcraft requirements and future projects. Moreover, they will look into and evaluate new ideas for using coalition airpower in the lower-tier air domain, which is where Army aviation usually operates.
Future Vertical Lift (FVL) is a program to develop a family of military helicopters for the United States (US) Army. After more than ten years of combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, the US Department of Defense has determined that the US Army’s helicopter fleet is obsolete. Consequently, FVL was launched in 2009 to outline a common approach for a next-generation helicopter for all armed forces. This plan formed the basis for the development of helicopters for the next 25 to 40 years to replace the current fleet. It is planned to use new technologies, materials, and constructions. The helicopters should be faster, have a longer range, carry a larger payload, be more reliable, easier to maintain and operate, and have lower operating costs. So far, it has been decided that four different aircraft sizes are to be developed, based on a common range of hardware, sensors, avionics and engines.
The program should give the USA (and now also the UK) a technological advantage in the field, and it should also allow the country to preserve long-term technical know-how.
Thanks to the agreement signed, the US and the UK will assess the advantages, dangers, and overall viability of rotorcraft cooperation through this joint analysis. This agreement builds on an existing partnership between the American and the British Army and Navy, which aims at reducing the gap between the two countries’ open-system architectures, which is critical for keeping up with emerging technology and rapid adaptability and capability evolution.
As pointed out in the press release by the US Army (AFC, 2022), the main objectives of the program include:
- Identifying cost, schedule, and performance risk reduction options for future rotorcraft programs;
- Enabling and improving interoperability and integration of rotorcraft between the armed forces;
- Assessing the feasibility of and identifying and assessing risks associated with pursuing future cooperation in the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E), production, sustainment, and follow-on development of future rotorcraft;
- Providing information to the two countries to use in their national decision-making processes;
- Future rotorcraft cooperative RDT&E;
- Developing strategies for collaboration in the future steps of the U.S. Department of Defense FVL program.
The agreement reached last week puts London in a very favourable position compared to the other NATO countries (the USA excluded). The pact gives the UK Ministry of Defence access to US Army requirements documents, which they can use to influence their own decision-making processes – something that other NATO countries do not have. Moreover, these might be used to help the UK Ministry of Defence define future rotorcraft requirements since the UK will be able to acquire US Army FVL capabilities in the future.
Written by Francesco Giannelli
Bibliography:
Army Futures Command (2022), US, UK armies agree to share future vertical lift program info, US Army (Washington DC, USA). Available at: https://www.army.mil/article/253959/us_uk_armies_agree_to_share_future_vertical_lift_program_info. Accessed on: 22/02/2022
