The U.S. Army has established final requirements for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program after conducting final design and risk review activities in December, Defense News reported Tuesday.
The service branch’s Requirements Oversigt Council convened last week to finalize the Abbreviated Capabilities Development Document which details the approved FARA designs of Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE: LMT) Sikorsky business and Textron‘s (NYSE: TXT) Bell subsidiary.
Sikorsky is offering the Raider X that builds on the framework of the company’s S-97 Raider attack helicopter with coaxial rotor elements.
Bell submitted its 360 Invictus rotorcraft as a bid for the program.
The Army announced both companies’ selection for Phase 2 FARA activities in March 2020 ahead of the scheduled November 2022 fly-off demonstration.
Brig. Gen. Robert Barrie, program executive officer for aviation at the Army, previously told the publication that the service expects to release a request for proposals for a future long-range assault aircraft in the third quarter of this fiscal year.
The FARA effort comes as part of the Army’s push to update the AH-64E Apache helicopter’s capabilities, according to Defense News.
