AUSA Global 2021: US Army protecting first FLRAA batch from other service requirements

The US Army is prioritising its initial batch of Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) platforms for its own needs and will not build pre-existing capability onto the aircraft in anticipation of future requirements from other services or international interest.

Brigadier General Robert Barrie, US Army programme executive officer (PEO) for aviation, said on 17 March at the Association of the United States Army’s (AUSA’s) annual Global Force conference that the service is balancing significant interest from other US military services against absolute and unequivocable guidance from US Army senior leaders to deliver an affordable capability. If there is robustness in the design, he said, that allows the service to potentially account for future requirements that either another service, or an international customer, may desire.

The FLRAA request for information (RFI), released on 4 April 2019, said the US Army is pursuing an accelerated FLRAA programme using a leader-follower approach. The US Army is designated as the lead service with US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) participation and the US Marine Corps (USMC) acquisition programme following approximately two years later.

Brig Gen Barrie said there is simply not a lot of appetite for capability, or cost, in this first increment of FLRAA platforms to account for other requirements.

“The requirement today acknowledges there is joint interest,” Brig Gen Barrie said. “But it is the Army’s requirement, and we are working through the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Cross-Functional Team (CFT) to make sure it is captured and then (with) Increment 1, we deliver rapid and affordable capability for the army.”