ATLANTA–The Army has yet to decide which Future Vertical Lift (FVL) capability set it will pursue first, but the service could get closer to that decision in the fall.
Richard Kretzschmar, project manager for the Army’s Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) and FVL, told reporters April 30 at the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) conference that the service’s plan is to bring the plan to Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L) Frank Kendall in the fall after briefing Army leadership. Kretzschmar said he’ll brief two-star Army leaders within the following two weeks on requirement options and the resources available for them.
Kretzschmar said after Army two-stars weigh in, the plan will go to the three-star level and then Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. Once Milley is briefed, Kretzschmar said, he’ll present Kendall with his plan. Kretzschmar said if Kendall approves, he’ll allow an analysis of alternatives (AoA) to begin. A rumor that the Army had chosen which FVL capability set to first pursue was a hot topic at the Army Aviation Association of America convention.
FVL is shaping up to be the Army’s biggest acquisition program in generations. FVL will take lessons learned from the Joint Multi-Role (JMR) tech demonstrator program and eventually replace the service’s entire helicopter fleet with a family of new aircraft. The magnitude of this decision, Kretzschmar said, is why the Army isn’t rushing to decide which capability set to first pursue as it will set the tone and the family of systems approach across all the services.
In fact, Kretzschmar said the decision timeline could be extended if Army leaders decide that they want the program to take a different approach. Kretzschmar said discussions have to be made with various stakeholders, including the Marine Corps and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), as to what those agencies want in next generation rotor aircraft.
The Army on Feb. 23 posted a pair of requests for information (RFI) on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) for two FVL capability sets. According to AHS International, capability set 1 is closer to what was originally “FVL Light” and is similar to the Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) profile. Capability set 3, AHS International said, corresponds to what was originally called “FVL Medium,” upon which the JMR demonstrators were based.
House authorizers in a subcommittee mark directed the Army to present potential options and required resources for accelerating FVL.