Lockheed Martin says it will offer a new mission equipment package to meet the requirements for the US Army's nascent Joint Multi-Role/Future Vertical Lift (JMR/FVL) high-speed rotorcraft programme.
"The US Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin have invested billions of dollars to create advanced technology mission equipment packages, such as that in the F-35 Lightning II," says Ed Whalen, the company's rotary wing capture lead. "The JMR programme offers the opportunity for the US Army to leverage this investment and many others in its vertical lift programme through open architectures and Lockheed Martin's advanced avionics, sensors and weapons."
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Lockheed says it will incorporate the Pentagon's future airborne capability environment software standards into the aircraft's cockpit and mission systems. Boeing, and possibly other companies, are expected to offer rival sets of avionics for the JMR programme.
AVX, Bell Helicopter and a Boeing/Sikorsky partnership have been awarded contracts to develop and test air vehicle concepts by 2017. The mission systems will be demonstrated in a follow-on phase.
The demonstrations are expected to be followed by a development programme that would eventually lead to replacements for the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility and Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
Source: Flight International
