Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft

U.S. Army officials described FARA as the "knife-fighter" of future Army aviation capabilities, intended to deliver high performance in a compact aircraft. Under the initial request for proposals, FARA candidates were to use the engine selected through the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP). Performance goals imposed relatively few constraints beyond overall dimensions, with maximum rotor diameter and fuselage width each not to exceed . ==Competition history==

The OH-58 was retired without a clear successor in 2014; three successive programs were cancelled without reaching production; although the Army intended to perform a service life extension program for the OH-58 fleet in 2013, cuts to the defense budget forced its retirement. In lieu of the OH-58, the Army has used Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters paired with AAI RQ-7 Shadow drones in the armed reconnaissance role. FARA is part of the Future Vertical Lift program and its procurement is largely modeled on the Joint Multi-Role technology demonstration program. The US Army released a draft solicitation on June 22, 2018 for reconnaissance helicopter proposals, with the intent to have two flying prototype designs by 2023, which will compete for the final award. On October 3, 2018, the Army released its formal request for proposal and outlined its proposed schedule: • Jun 2019: Award four to six initial candidate design contracts • Mar 2020: Choose two of the initial candidate designs to be developed into flying prototypes • Nov 2022: Fly-off competition to be held between the two prototype designs • Future: Award contract based on results from fly-off competition The FARA procurement, headed by Brigadier General Wally Rugen, would disburse $15 million per candidate selected in the first development phase. The two prototype candidates would each receive $735 million to build flying aircraft for the competition. MD Helicopters, which was developing a variant of its MD902 Explorer with a wing to meet the Army's requirements, was not selected for the candidate design phase. ==Initial candidate designs==

AVX/L3 The AVX/L3 candidate design was unveiled at the summit of the Army Aviation Association of America in April 2019. Bell The CEO of Textron, Bell's parent company, stated that its FARA candidate design would be based on technology developed for the 525, rather than a further development of the V-280 tiltrotor. Boeing , Boeing had not released details on its FARA candidate aircraft to the public. A Boeing executive declined to state if the recently unveiled Compound Apache would form the basis for the company's FARA candidate design. On February 13, 2020, Boeing released a teaser video and images of its FARA design. It offers stealth features. More details of the Boeing FARA design were revealed on March 3, 2020; it is a three-rotor compound helicopter with tandem seating. Karem Karem Aircraft announced in July 2019 it had partnered with Northrop Grumman and Raytheon to design its FARA candidate aircraft. On October 16, 2019, Karem unveiled its AR40 design, a compound helicopter with a rigid main rotor, a swiveling tail rotor/pusher propeller, and a pivoting wing. Sikorsky Sikorsky stated that its FARA candidate design would incorporate the compound coaxial rotors and pusher propeller design used on its Sikorsky X2 and S-97 Raider; the S-97 had initially been developed for the Armed Aerial Scout program. ==Finalists==

On March 25, 2020, the US Army selected Bell and Sikorsky to move forward to develop flying prototypes. In May 2022, budget documents showed that flight testing would be delayed to Fiscal Year 2024, which starts in October 2023. Deliveries of the GE T901, developed under ITEP and installed in the FARA prototypes, were delayed until November 2022. Cancellation On 8 February 2024, the U.S. Army ended development on the FARA program. According to an Army press release, the decision was made after a "sober assessment of the modern battlefield". Production of the GE T901 engine would also be delayed pending compatibility with the Boeing AH-64 Apache and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. Reactions to the cancellation were mixed, noting that $9 billion had been spent over two decades on multiple cancelled programs, resulting in no replacement, and leaving the Army to rely on existing types to fill the role. ==References==