Source: Flight International
Although battlefield observations from the Ukraine War led the army to cancel its next-generation armed scout helicopter, the service’s senior aviation leaders say they still see a need for Bell’s V-280 Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft in future conflicts.
Last June during a business event in Connecticut, Sikorsky president Paul Lemmo said the company’s VH-92A Patriot helicopter would take over presidential transport missions flown by VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters “completely” by this spring. That still has not happened.
The Raider X prototype, built for the US Army’s now-cancelled Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft programme, features the new GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engine that will eventually be fitted into the army’s UH-60 Black Hawk fleet.
