TerraN_EmpirE
Tyrant King
Okay, let's play.
"That most American of games, ketchup."
Is the US Army biting off more than it can chew? We ask its future vertical lift modernization boss
I could read them all out but that's done.
Here
And here.
In summery,
The Army wants FARA aka FVL capabilities set 1, the Marines was FVL capabilities set 2 their gunship and the Army is lead on FVL capabilities set 3 FLRAA.
This is the known portions but the Marines and Socom then get to tailor FLRAA to their needs. That said they may reign themselves in if what they want is too extreme.
First up Cruise Speed.
The Army threshold ( read that as minimum to meet ) is 250Kt with an Objective ( what they want ) of 280Kt. This is At full power.
The Marines threshold is 275Kt with 290Kt Objective at 90% power. That's a monster jump in power.
Then Range
The Army range unrefueled range threshold is 200 nautical miles. With Objective of 300. The Marines threshold 365 Nautical miles with a 450 nautical miles objective.
The Marines though trade off 2 passagers for a crew of 4+8 well the Army and Socom get a full load of 4+12 passangers. Oh and the Marines want a gun on their transport as well as Air to air refuelling probe. And a larger cargo payload.
Socom and the Army want their versions to mount a probe as needed.
Socom's only hard is that they want it to fold for flight in a C17. Which lines up for the Marines/Navy who want it to fold for storage in ships.
Being honest the Marines requirements pretty much killed Defiant. These were tailored to make V280 The Threshold.
Even then Bell's Valor is going to be hard pressed to meet Thresholds of speed. The Army will be ordering in the Thousands the Marines about 350 of transport and Attacker. But these hard specs drive for Bell. Where the Army had wiggle room for Boeing, the Marines are tossing them over the clif at birth.
"That most American of games, ketchup."
Is the US Army biting off more than it can chew? We ask its future vertical lift modernization boss
The story is more of a what the Army feels about the programs and where it stands.Brig. Gen. Wally Rugen said:
Time for the specs.
I could read them all out but that's done.
Here
And here.
In summery,
No surprise so far. They want it to cost about $43 Million a unit.Breaking Defense said:
And a Gunship to bootBreaking Defense said:
The Army wants FARA aka FVL capabilities set 1, the Marines was FVL capabilities set 2 their gunship and the Army is lead on FVL capabilities set 3 FLRAA.
This is the known portions but the Marines and Socom then get to tailor FLRAA to their needs. That said they may reign themselves in if what they want is too extreme.
First up Cruise Speed.
The Army threshold ( read that as minimum to meet ) is 250Kt with an Objective ( what they want ) of 280Kt. This is At full power.
The Marines threshold is 275Kt with 290Kt Objective at 90% power. That's a monster jump in power.
Then Range
The Army range unrefueled range threshold is 200 nautical miles. With Objective of 300. The Marines threshold 365 Nautical miles with a 450 nautical miles objective.
The Marines though trade off 2 passagers for a crew of 4+8 well the Army and Socom get a full load of 4+12 passangers. Oh and the Marines want a gun on their transport as well as Air to air refuelling probe. And a larger cargo payload.
Socom and the Army want their versions to mount a probe as needed.
Socom's only hard is that they want it to fold for flight in a C17. Which lines up for the Marines/Navy who want it to fold for storage in ships.
Being honest the Marines requirements pretty much killed Defiant. These were tailored to make V280 The Threshold.
Even then Bell's Valor is going to be hard pressed to meet Thresholds of speed. The Army will be ordering in the Thousands the Marines about 350 of transport and Attacker. But these hard specs drive for Bell. Where the Army had wiggle room for Boeing, the Marines are tossing them over the clif at birth.
