Anyone who has strolled around an army or civil helicopter show in the USA lately cannot help but have noticed some strange rotary-wing birds that promise to morph between troop-carrying assault machines and armed gunships, bristling with cannons and Hellfire missiles. Full-scale mock-ups of the Bell Helicopter V-280 Valor and the Sikorsky S-97 Raider, and models of some other radical concepts, are – their creators hope – the future of rotary-wing aviation for the US military.
That future is the pending Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme, and Bell and Sikorsky are taking very different approaches to the Pentagon’s challenge: to achieve greater speed, range, payload and manoeuvrability than today’s inventory of military helicopters, all of which were designed in the last century.
The rigid-rotor compound coaxial S-97 and its 13.6t (30,000lb)-class sibling, the Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant, are being assembled in earnest as technology demonstrators. They trace their lineage back to the Sikorsky X-2 that first flew in August 2008 and the earlier XH-59 (S-69) advancing blade concept (ABC) of the 1970s.
The pathway to the V-280, Bell’s third-generation tiltrotor, extends back to the XV-3 (Bell 200) vertical take-off and landing experiment of the 1950s and the NASA-sponsored XV-15 prototype, which first flew in May 1977 and was succeeded by the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey – the world’s only operational military tiltrotor.
As Flightglobal found on its tour of the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) mission systems solution summit in Atlanta, Georgia in April, and American Helicopter Society (AHS) International forum in West Palm Beach, Florida in May, the V-280 and S-97 replicas are not the only oddities to be encountered at trade shows.
Wander over to the AVX booth and you will probably see a 1/10th scale wind tunnel model of the Texas-headquartered company’s coaxial rotor type, which has twin ducted fans for speed and canards for lift in forward flight. A full-scale version of the 11.3t (25,000lb)-class type with 13.4m (44ft) diameter counter-rotating blades would carry 14 troops or dozens of ground and air attack missiles into combat. It is one of four air vehicle configurations, including a 27.2t (60,000lb)-class tiltrotor, being proposed by AVX for FVL.
Over at the Karem Aircraft stand you will probably bump into legendary aeronautical engineer Abraham Karem, the company’s namesake and creator of the Predator drone. On display will be Karem’s family of optimal speed tiltrotors (OSTR), but pay particular attention to the 1/10th scale model of the 11m (36ft)-diameter rotor UTR36, which comes in utility and attack variants for future military applications.
Piasecki, it must be said, displays the most colourful and curious collection of familiar-looking pusher-prop compound helicopters. Its models range from the AH-64 "Speed Apache” to the CH-47 “Tilt Duct” and Sikorsky UH-60-based X-49 "Speed Hawk". Founded by the pioneer of tandem-rotor helicopters, Frank Piasecki, the company is now led by his equally capable son John, who remains in full pursuit of FVL even though the company did not secure a place alongside Bell, Sikorsky-Boeing, AVX and Karem on the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration (JMR-TD) programme that is co-funding flying prototypes of the V-280 and SB-1 and subscale laboratory models of the AVX design as well as a test stand for Karem's wing and rotor system.
If the UH-60 Black Hawk, Boeing CH-57 Chinook, AH-64 Apache and Bell H-1 represent today's technology, these new configurations – including those by Karem, AVX and Piasecki – could represent the future.
Printed on most Bell Valor posters is the legend “speed, range, payload, endurance, agility” – attributes that perfectly capture the reason the Pentagon is pursuing the FVL acquisition.
The programme is the military’s answer to a directive by Congress in the fiscal year 2009 National Defense Authorisation Act (NDAA) for the US Defense Department (DoD) to establish a coherent strategy for jointly pursuing next-generation rotorcraft capabilities.
A Future Vertical Lift Strategic Plan was approved by the defence secretary in October 2011 with the army, as the primary operator of military helicopters, selected to lead the joint-service endeavour.
The FVL “family of systems” is meant to succeed everything from the now-retired Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior to the Chinook, and even the fixed-wing Lockheed Martin C-130 turboprop transport, depending on the success of larger dual and quad tiltrotor configurations spawned under the now-defunct Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) project of the last decade.
These revolutionary vertical-lift aircraft will be powered by a next-generation 3,000shp-class Improved Turbine Engine (ITE) and some as-yet undefined iteration of the 5,000-10,000shp-class turboshaft/turboprop Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE). The ITE science and technology effort this year heads into a competitive technology maturation and risk-reduction phase as a major defence programme, almost certainly pitting the GE Aviation GE3000 single-spool engine against the Honeywell and Pratt & Whitney Advanced Turbine Engine Company (ATEC) joint venture’s HPW3000 dual-spool design. Both types take advantage of heat-resistant ceramic matrix composite materials, additive manufacturing and computational 3D aerodynamics to deliver a 50% more powerful and 25% more efficient “drop-in replacement” for the 2,000shp-class GE T701D engine that powers today’s regular Black Hawks and Apaches.
REPLACING YESTERDAY'S DESIGNS
The push toward this new family of FVL rotorcraft comes from an operational realisation the aircraft configurations of the 1960s, '70s and '80s that have served America and her allies well up to this point have reached their design limits and further block upgrades will not achieve speed, range and payload to meet future operating concepts.
This is particularly necessary for operating in Africa and the Pacific theatre, where prepared bases are scarce and distant.
“I firmly believe the only way we will close the gap with the problems facing us today is with Future Vertical Lift,” says Lt Gen Tony Crutchfield, deputy commander of the US Pacific Command (PACOM), at the army aviation conference. “It is the only way we will be successful in the PACOM environment with the distances. We have to be able to go farther and stay longer. It must be swift because lives depend on it.”
For the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment – the Night Stalkers – FVL presents solutions and challenges to some of its most complex operations. It must rely on the more highly resourced regular army and marines to deliver a next-generation rotorcraft that can be easily and inexpensively adapted for special forces. Army Special Operations Aviation Command (ARSOAC) head, Brig Gen Erik Peterson, worries regular forces might prioritise speed, range and payload at the expense of manoeuvrability in hover. He also cautions important Special Operations Command (SOCOM) capabilities, like aerial refuelling, must come as standard.
The shadowy special forces group is upgrading to the new multi-mission Sikorsky MH-60M, equipped with more powerful GE Aviation YT706/CT7-8 engines, and it has taken delivery of all its new and remanufactured Boeing MH-57Gs.
However it still needs a next-generation replacement for the Hughes/MD Helicopters MH-6 Little Bird – the “Killer Egg”. Any replacement must have as small a rotor diameter as possible to accomplish the close-in “street fighting” the MH-6 is known for.
“We have to have the capability, the agility, the manoeuvrability and the power to be in the right place at the right time to deliver infiltration, exfiltration, reconnaissance and precision fires,” Peterson says. “We’re not prepared to sacrifice manoeuvrability or agility in the terminal area.
“I think we can find common ground. Speed, range and manoeuvrability – those aren’t [special operations forces] requirements, those are requirements to support the ground force. Period. What we also want is a small footprint. I think we can get there, but it’s going to take compromise on both sides.”
The FVL endeavour will have implications for any service looking to recapitalise a helicopter fleet in the next five decades, and the US Navy is already considering what FVL type will replace its ship-based multimission MH-60S and MH-60R Seahawk fleets. How fast that mid-sized "MH-XX" aircraft is developed and fielded will determine whether the Seahawk fleet is life extended or replaced completely, and when, according to H-60 multimission helicopters deputy programme manager Holli Galletti, of the US Naval Air Systems Command PMA-299 office.
“We would simply wait until the army continued down the capability sets until they got to [Capability Set 2], which is why we anticipate having to do a midlife upgrade for the H-60s at this time,” Galletti says. “We’re looking to maintain or improve those capabilities that we already have on the MH-60s.”
The US Marine Corps is looking beyond its in-production Bell UH-1Y Venom and AH-1Z Viper helicopters to what will come next, and how that FVL capability will fundamentally improve the way the Marines deploy and fight in tomorrow's battles. The expeditionary force already employs the MV-22 Osprey to great effect. What comes next must preferably be cheaper to acquire and maintain, and more lethal.
USMC Maj Gen Stacy Clardy, the Pentagon’s deputy director for force management, application and support, says the sooner FVL is delivered, the better, acknowledging the acquisition can only move as fast as technology and bureaucracy permit.
“I think Afghanistan has highlighted the challenges we have with our current fleet of aircraft, whether it is high or hot [environments] or whatever it might be,” Clardy said at the AHS International forum. “The quicker we can get the increased capabilities, I think, is always better.
"We can’t afford to have these big iron mountains and buildup anywhere in the world. We have to be able to go there light, efficient and provide whatever the mission set requires, and we need to do that in an expeditionary way.”
CURRENT INVENTORY
The scale of the task ahead for the government and industry to replace every make and model of aircraft in the US arsenal with a new FVL family of rotorcraft is not lost on those driving the effort. The DOD maintains 758 attack helicopters, including 592 army Boeing AH-64s, with an objective fleet of somewhere between 690 and 767 Apaches as the latest Boeing-built E-model replaces the AH-64D Longbow Apache, according to the Pentagon’s long-term aviation plan, released in May. The marine corps counts 166 H-1 Huey and Cobra helicopters, and the final American procurement of the heavily armed AH-1Z variant is expected in FY2019.
The army’s cargo and utility inventories consist primarily of new and remanufactured Chinooks and Black Hawks, which “should be viable for 20 or more additional years of service”. Legacy L-model Black Hawks will serve for at least another decade with the Northrop Grumman V-model digital cockpit upgrade.
The army objective is a fleet of 1,375 M-model Black Hawk and 760 UH-60V helicopters, with the life-extended L-models receiving digital cockpit modifications from 2018 until 2033.
The army is building a Chinook fleet of 473 Boeing CH-47Fs and 69 MH-47Gs. As one of the last models to be phased out through FVL, the army and Boeing are developing a “Block II Chinook” variant for the 2020s and even considering a Block III effort in the 2030s, that would keep the type flying out to 2060.
One of the newest army fleets is the Airbus Helicopters UH-72 Lakota light utility rotorcraft that will be fully fielded by 2018. “A replacement or upgraded capability could be procured beyond FY2027 should operational or sustainability requirements dictate a necessity for airframe sustainment and improvement,” the aviation plan notes.
The air force, meanwhile, retains its Sikorsky HH-60-based Pave Hawk combat rescue helicopter fleet and 52 CV-22 special forces tiltrotors. The air force will maintain 112 HH-60s and is in the process of recapitalising its fleet with the HH-60W, a CRH variant that it expects to be fully fielded by 2029.
The marine corps is procuring 360 MV-22s and the navy wants 48 future CMV-22 aircraft carrier logistics airplanes to replace the Northrop C-2 for onboard delivery. The V-22 type has no set retirement date since there is a midlife upgrade forming to convert the V-22 fleets from B to C-models. What comes next, however, will be informed by FVL studies, the department says.
Next year, the marines will start buying up to 200 Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallions to replace its legacy heavy-lift CH-53E.
Developing replacements for all these conventional helicopters is expected to take 25 to 40 years. The resulting configurations are expected to serve for the next 50 years.
“This is really a unique opportunity,” says Dan Bailey, who leads the army JMR-TD programme. “The V-22 wasn’t just last century, it was midway last century. The XV-3 led to XV-15 which led to the V-22. All of that design work was done before the mid-'80s.
“This [JMR-TD/FVL] effort has really placed a foundation for retooling ourselves to being able to conduct new aircraft design again and really move vertical lift to a next generation,” he continues. “We call the aircraft we have now, third generation at best. The V-22 you could call third- or fourth-generation. We need to move into the fifth- and sixth-generation at this point. I would argue that CH-53K, you could call it a new design, but it’s a new solution to the same design. Certainly it has a composite main rotor head, but it’s the same outer mould line, the same configuration.”
JOINT MULTIROLE
Before launching head first into FVL, the government chose to enter into co-operative research agreements with industry teams led by Boeing-Sikorsky, Bell, AVX and Karem for the Joint Multi-Role demonstration phase, with the SB-1 and V-280 the only flying prototypes because of funding limitations.
Those initial contracts for JMR Phase I were awarded in October 2013, with first flight of the Defiant and Valor expected in August or September next year. The primary requirement, as articulated in an announcement for JMR by the army's broad agency announcement, was for delivery of flying prototypes with design gross weights of 13.6t (30,000lbs) or so, with the capability of reaching more than 230kts.
Boeing-Sikorsky and Bell say they are on track to fly in late 2017. Spirit AeroSystems of Wichita, Kansas delivered the V-280 main composite fuselage in September and the wing and nacelles were attached at Bell’s plant in Amarillo, Texas in April.
Swift Engineering, of San Clemente, California is advancing through fabrication of the SB-1 fuselage. The company has experience working with this configuration, having also produced the main composite structure of the smaller 5.2t (11,400lb) S-97 Raider. The V-280 prototype is powered by off-the-shelf GE Aviation T64 engines and the SB-1 picked the Honeywell T55.
“For both of them, I would give them high marks in performing along the schedule and plan that they established, actually in 2013 and updated in 2014,” says Bailey, whose office resides within US Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Centre (AMRDEC) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama. “They have done well in establishing a programme that’s really cognisant of rapid acquisition-type prototyping and they’re executing to that. I believe they will make first flight.”
BELL HELICOPTER V-280
Vince Tobin, Bell’s vice-president of V-280 and Future Vertical Lift, says the 3D design tools used to generate the aircraft blueprints worked "exactly like they were supposed to” and the nacelles and wing structures lined up perfectly as the pieces came together in March.
By attaching the 15.2m (50ft) wing, the V-280 is “beginning to look like a complete aeroplane”, he says, noting there is confidence assembly work will remain on track.
“These guys and girls have been putting H-1s and V-22s together up in Amarillo and are also going to be assembling the [Bell] 525,” he says. “There was the question of what’s the next tiltrotor and where do we go? The fact that they’re seeing the aircraft come together is a huge morale boost.”
“Team Valor” has created an aircraft Bell claims will achieve a cruise speed of 280kt and combat range of 500-800nm. It self-deploys up to 2,100nm and is meant to achieve “two times the productivity” of a Black Hawk at a “comparable cost to the AH-64E and Special Operations MH-60M”. It has two 1.8m (6ft) doors on each side for ease of access, the company notes. Assembly of the fly-by-wire next-generation tiltrotor demonstrator began in June 2015, and folding, inverse V-tail versions are being examined for the navy and marine corps.
SIKORSKY SB-1
Doug Shidler, Sikorsky's SB-1 programme director, says parts for the Defiant are beginning to arrive from suppliers, and the systems integration laboratory and cockpit in Stratford, Connecticut is up and running. The fuselage will move from Swift to Boeing’s facility in Mesa, Arizona in the “third quarter of this year” for testing before going east to West Palm Beach in Florida for final assembly, ground testing and first flight. Sikorsky is also setting up a propulsion system test bed in West Palm Beach.
“The purpose of the technology demonstrator programme is to inform the customer about what’s in the art of the possible relative to their requirements, so it’s really an educating process that we’re supporting,” says Shidler. “We’ll be learning a fair amount as we get into flight test, but we’ll also be informing our customer.”
In the meantime, the company is pressing ahead with flight envelope expansion of the S-97 Raider, which first flew in May 2015. That company-funded demonstrator was launched in 2010 to target the army’s long-standing Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement, and the aircraft continues to draw “significant interest” from the military, especially SOCOM's aviation branch, despite there being no formal programme of record to replace the OH-58, made redundant by the teaming of Textron Systems RQ-7 Shadow and AH-64 Apache units. The S-97 is not part of the formal JMR-TD effort, but a derivative will probably be for any FVL Light programme.
The objective forward airspeed of the S-97 is 220kt, says Shidler. The flight test programme has been slow and methodical to date, with Sikorsky only flying very deliberate, incremental tests. The helicopter division of Lockheed Martin expects to reach that speed by the end of the year.
The aircraft is meant to carry six fully equipped combat troops and various weapons for armed reconnaissance missions.
“In 2004-2005, we evaluated that if we wanted to change the paradigm of FVL and add an element of speed, what are the configurations we’d look at? We settled on the X-2 technology configuration,” explains Shidler. “What we did was bring in modern technology to address the challenges we had back in the 1970s and 1980s when we were flying the [four-engine Advancing Blade Concept prototype], specifically rigid composite blades, a fly-by-wire system and active vibration controls to overcome some of the challenges of the Sikorsky XH-59 (S-69).”
Shidler says Sikorsky has received inquiries from potential foreign military customers who are interest in the S-97. However, it is too early to discuss exports and foreign participation since the intended launch customer is the US Army. There has also been commercial interest in the rigid-rotor compound coaxial configuration, but the nearer-term applications are military.
“We’re not trying to sell the S-97 as-is,” Shidler says. “It was trying to prove the militarisation of the X-2 technology. The S-97 size would be an army and special ops platform, understanding that the armed recon mission is really an army-type mission. The navy, air force and marine corps really don’t do those types of missions.”
KAREM OSTR
When it comes to the advanced propulsion systems proposed by Karem and AVX, the army’s emphasis is to mature those competing solutions so they can be properly assessed for potential FVL platforms.
“Our objective and focus for the Karem design is to look at the functionality and reliability of the design, specifically in the hub, wing and rotor aspects of that aircraft,” says Bailey. “Our ultimate goal is to do a wing-rotor ground test on a full-scale-sized wing and rotor on a ground-based tower system that will be fully operational and dynamic for testing. It’s resource dependent but, at this point, [turning rotors] would be in late-2018 or early-2019.”
Karem says it has been working with the army on its highly efficient tiltrotor systems since 1997, starting with the Frontier Systems A160 Hummingbird (YMQ-18A) unmanned helicopter later acquired by Boeing.
“We wish we could be flying next year, but we’re doing the core technology and all the hard stuff,” Karem says.
Karem's director of military vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) business development, Bruce Tenney, says the army continues to show considerable interest in the company's optimum-speed tiltrotor technology, and it will soon prove itself in tests.
“We believe the army’s funding of the tiltrotor tower test is a reflection of the army’s continuing interest in the technology,” he says. “We’re very excited to do that. It will prove to the army that the critical technical elements of Karem’s design are at the level they’re able to be afforded at this point.”
Karem was pursuing the TR75 for the now-terminated Joint Heavy Lift acquisition. That aircraft, if realised, would have had a 36t payload capacity – almost double the amount carried by a traditional Lockheed Martin C-130 and 120% more than the in-development CH-53K.
The company intends to partner with an established manufacturer to offer its tiltrotor system for FVL, offering UTR36 and ATR36 variants for the mid-sized class of rotorcraft or FVL Medium. A vehicle of that size would be capable of speeds above Mach 0.6 or 380kt, with a mission radius of 540nm, powered by two 3,850shp-class engines. It has a 5.4t (12,000lb) internal and 6.8t (15,000lb) external payload.
AVX's CCH family
According to AVX president and chief engineer Troy Gaffey, the company is looking to secure funding to conduct large-scale low and high-speed testing of its compound coaxial helicopter (CCH) type at NASA’s 12x24m (40x80ft) wind tunnel at the Ames Research Centre in California, having already done plenty of research with the 1/10th-scale model. The larger test would employ a dynamic, powered model with twin ducted fans and a coaxial rotor.
The company recently missed out on further developing its technology through the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) VTOL X-plane technology demonstration, but will provide its rotor system for another DARPA project: TERN, or Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node. That X-plane is meant to be an armed, ship-based, tail-sitting unmanned aerial vehicle.
Northrop Grumman won the project, and selected AVX’s coaxial rotor system, which draws heavily on Russian/Soviet experience with coaxial rotors, like those on the Kamov Ka-32 and Ka-52. Gaffey says TERN is a very fast-moving programme with little time to produce the rotor system, but if it is successful, it will validate some of the company’s key technologies.
Through JMR-TD, AVX is also hoping to secure more funding from Congress to create a dynamic, small-scale compound coaxial helicopter test model. “We believe there will be additional funding coming out,” he says. “We want to build a small demonstrator. Will we get an opportunity? We don’t know; we’re working toward it.”
The company has several former Bell employees with years of experience building tilt rotor aircraft, via the V-22 programme. That is partly why the company will propose a tiltrotor solution for the larger classes of FVL, since the configuration "scales well".
If the army did seek a Chinook replacement, however unlikely, AVX would be ready with a tiltrotor proposal. The one 27.2t (60,000lb)-class version it presented to the army would have a 13.4m (44ft)-diameter rotor and Chinook-size cabin.
“Our [CCH] configuration we feel really comfortable with for these first three capability sets,” says Gaffey. “We believe Capability Set 4, which is really a CH-47 replacement, approximately, is probably, logically, a tiltrotor. A number of us worked on the V-22 and those people are now at AVX.”
ARMY ACQUISITION STRATEGY
To get from concept to completion, the army must articulate an acquisition strategy that can be approved by the Pentagon and acceptable to Congress to ensure stable funding. Today, there is no such plan, but a proposal is being formulated.
In October, the combined ITE/FVL programme office created in 2015 will seek a "materiel development decision" from the Pentagon’s top acquisition authority, that will approve entry into the analysis of alternatives phase. In February, the ITE/FVL office released two requests for information that articulated placeholder requirements for the Capability Set 1 (CS1), which would acquire a light assault and reconnaissance platform, and CS3, which would procure a next-generation replacement for the UH-60 and AH-64.
The rotorcraft industry is at odds over which procurement should come first, since CS3 would favour an aircraft in the JMR-TD 13.6t (30,000lb) class of air vehicles. AVX wants CS1, since that is the most immediate capability shortfall for the army since the divestment of the OH-58 and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment’s interest in a Little Bird replacement.
“The army has invested a lot of money [in CS3] and so have the guys building the demonstrators: Sikorsky, Boeing and Bell,” says Gaffey. “If it’s not CS3, they’re going to be very unhappy, so they’re putting a lot of pressure on staying with Capability Set 3. Other people in the army community would prefer to have the small one first, because of the missions they see driving it. The army is upgrading the Black Hawk and Apache with the ITE engine. If you look at what the engine guys publish, they make the Black Hawk and Apache much better aircraft. They have more speed, more range and more importantly, more lift – particularly in hot and high conditions. So why rush out and replace those?”
Sikorsky and Boeing have committed to jointly pursuing any acquisition related to FVL Medium, which the army has defined as CS2, CS3 and CS4. How the acquisition of Sikorsky by Lockheed plays into this discussion is uncertain, since Lockheed might prefer to go it alone, owing to the sizable resources and technology it commands as the world’s largest defence contractor.
Karem is pursuing larger classes of FVL, particularly CS3 and above, with its optimum-speed tiltrotor configuration. Bell however, is a free agent, wholly committed to tiltrotor solutions. However, it "will never say never" to offering a traditional helicopter design to replace something like the Little Bird, since that requirement is driven by rotor diameter, not just speed and payload. The MH-6 has an 8.4m (27.5ft) rotor compared to the Black Hawk at 16.4m (53ft).
“We’re probably reaching the point where we need to look at a new aeroplane after the Block III Little Bird. That’s my opinion,” says ARSOAC's Peterson. “We’ve got to preserve the capability of the Little Bird, which is an urban, nimble street fighter.”
What capability set the army moves forward with could be defined within weeks. Officials have publicly stated CS3 will come first, followed “shortly” after by CS1 for SOCOM in the FVL Light class.
The chief of staff of the army, as a key member of the Army Requirements Oversight Council, will sign off on the final requirement, CS1 or CS3, soon. A DoD-level defence acquisition board that is expected to convene in October to consider FVL will then consider the proposal. If it approves, the first formal FVL procurement programme will move into the analysis of alternatives phase.
According to the programme executive office for aviation, the JMR-TD programme will lead into an FVL “milestone A” decision in FY2021, which triggers another competitive technology maturation and risk-reduction phase with “at least two comparators” creating advance prototypes. A downselect to one design and industry team is expected ahead of an engineering and manufacturing development contract that will be awarded after “milestone B” approval in FY2023. The army does not expect initial operational capability – the point at which a weapon system is declared ready for battle – until the early- to mid-2030s. The first example won’t fly until FY2026, according to slides presented at the army aviation symposium.
The programme’s entry into low-rate production is expected some time in FY2029. This timeline, industry representatives say, could be accelerated. “The longer it is in calendar time, the bigger target it is [for budget cuts],” says Shidler.
David Koopersmith, Boeing’s vice-president and general manager for vertical lift, says a faster acquisition will require more money up front, but the JMR-TD flights might meet the DoD's standards for demonstrating technology before moving into the development phase.
“What if you eliminate a Y-plane development? We’ve had a lot of discussions on various funding schemes,” he says. “We’re anxious to find out what they present at the [material development decision].”
Source: FlightGlobal.com
