The US Army later this year will conduct trials of new rotary-wing training aircraft and training systems as it eyes the possible replacement of its fleet of Airbus Helicopters UH-72 Lakotas in the role.
Last October, the service issued a request for proposals (RfP) to industry seeking ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency in training new rotary-wing pilots under an initiative it calls Flight School Next.
An official, speaking under Chatham House rules at Defence IQ’s International Military Helicopter 2025 conference, said there had been over 40 industy responses to the RfP.
It will select “a few partners” to perform “initial tests” this summer, “sending select individuals through their training path” and then comparing the results against “what’s the current standard”.
Additionally, the service will look at the training systems adopted by its international partners “as well as what industry has and that mix of live training and the capabilities of synthetic training… looking for the right balance”, the official says.
Analysis of accident data has raised concerns that complex training helicopters with high levels of automation are not providing students with the full range of skills, such as how to recover from a loss of tail rotor authority.
Such skills were “second nature” for a previous generation of pilots, the source says. “One of the trends we found in numerous accidents involving loss of tail rotor effectiveness and authority was that our pilots had never at any point applied full left pedal to counter the anti-torque challenges”, instead relying on the “complexity of the systems, because the aircraft routinely do that for you”.
Although stressing that no decision has been taken to replace the twin-engined Lakota, the US Army is seeking an “an airplane that’s sustainable, that’s affordable and that produces the best possible pilot.
“That’s not to say that the Lakota isn’t doing that today to the extent that we want it to. But Lakota is a complex airplane and it does a lot of things for the pilot that we want it to when the pilot is in an operating environment.
“We are just looking at the balance of that capability and the pilots it’s producing through flight training and asking: is there a better way?”
The US Army progressively introduced the UH-72 into the training role at Fort Novosel, Alabama during the previous decade, enabling the retirement of the single-engined Bell TH-67 Creek in 2021. It also operates the Lakota for a broad range of utility missions, including use by Air National Guard units.
