Boeing Reveals US Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Helicopter Design

Boeing revealed its entry into the US Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Helicopter prototype competition which is intended to replace the now-retired Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior.

The thrust compounded single-main rotor helicopter boasts a six-bladed rotor system, a single engine, tandem seating and a modular, state-of-the-art cockpit with a reconfigurable large area display and autonomous capabilities. The rotorcraft also features fly-by-wire design, Boeing said in a statement Tuesday.

FARA is part of the Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) initiative, a program to put a new generation of helicopters into service by 2030. The other key part of the FVL is the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), designed to primarily replace the aging UH-60 Black Hawk, built by Sikorsky, and AH-64 Apache, built by Boeing. The Army awarded $3.9 billion worth contracts to five firms (Bell, Boeing, Karem, Lockheed-owned Sikorsky, and a partnership of AVX and L-3) last April, to develop the FARA. The contractors expect to have a competitive fly-off with their competing designs in 2023.

In September 2019, the companies were reportedly asked to incorporate special forces support roles performed by the MH-6 Little Bird into their designs.

Bell Textron and Lockheed Martin proposed “Bell 360 Invictus” and "Raider X" as their official entrants for the contest in October.