The Army Futures Command's decision regarding development of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft. According to GAO's decision published Thursday , the service decided to not award the company, a small business in Mesa, AZ, an other transaction agreement to develop FARA competitive prototypes.
It is not clear if the US Army’s decision and the GAO’s protest denial knocks the helicopter maker completely out of the FARA competition, though it is certainly a setback
GAO rejects MD Helicopters' protest of FARA loss
"The Government Accountability Office has rejected a protest from MD Helicopters of Army Futures Command's decision regarding development of the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft. According to GAO's decision published Thursday , the service decided to not award the company, a small business in Mesa, AZ, an other transaction agreement to develop FARA competitive prototypes. “MD Helicopters argues that the Army unreasonably evaluated its proposal, and otherwise failed to reasonably promote small business participation in accordance with 10 U.S.C. § 2371b(d)(1), . . "
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A more complete report from Flight Global
GAO deals blow to MD Helicopters’ FARA prototype bid
08 April 2019
"The Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied a MD Helicopters protest of the decision by the US Army Future Command to not contract with the company to develop a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competitive prototype.
MD Helicopters had protested that the US Army did not grant it an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA), claiming that the service “unreasonably evaluated its proposal, and otherwise failed to reasonably promote small business participation.”
The GAO declined to review the protest because it says as a matter of policy it does not review the award of non-procurement instruments, such as prototype contracts, issued under an agency’s OTA authority.
The US Army formally solicited FARA proposals from the aviation industry in October 2018. The aircraft the service seeking is comparable in size to Future Vertical Lift Capability Set 1, a light-attack and scouting aircraft with a minimum internal payload of six passengers.
The US Army had said in its notice that it anticipated in FY2019 making four to six initial awards based on proposed conceptual designs and approaches. . .
MD Helicopters announced in March 2019 that it was developing a wing-equipped variant of its tail rotorless, twin-engined MD902 Explorer – called Swift – to help it meet the speed requirements of the FARA programme.
As a first step, the company was aiming to gain Federal Aviation Administration type certification for the Genesys Aerosystems glass cockpit in the militarised MD902 variant - the MD969 Combat Explorer - by the end of 2019.
The company wanted to have a prototype Swift built by the end of the year, with ground and flight testing to begin quickly in the months after.
It is not clear if the US Army’s decision and the GAO’s protest denial knocks the helicopter maker completely out of the FARA competition, though it is certainly a setback.
MD Helicopters did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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RELATED CONTENT:
Here's What's In The Army's Requirements For A Future High-Speed Assault Helicopter
The goal is to replace the Army's Black Hawks and some Marine helos, but the new design might ultimately replace a number of other helicopters too.
"The U.S. Army has revealed new details about what it wants from its high-speed, long-range replacement for the UH-60 Black Hawk series of helicopters. The service’s goal is to have the first examples of this future assault rotorcraft in service by 2030, with additional variants for U.S. Special Operations Command and the U.S. Marine Corps following soon thereafter.
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The Army isn’t planning to issue a contract to buy these new rotorcraft until 2021, but it does want responses to its request for information by this time next week. So we may not have to wait too long to begin getting more information on the possible contenders for the service’s future Black Hawk replacement, which might also supplant a number of other helicopters in service across the U.S. military and with American allies and partners abroad.
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The Army’s Program Executive Office for Aviation issued a request for information regarding what the service formally calls the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) on Apr. 4, 2019. FLRAA is part of the over-arching Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program, through which the service hopes to replace all of its existing helicopters.
The final design needs to be able to accommodate 12 passengers in crash-resistant seats, up to 4,000 pounds or cargo, or some combination of both. It will also have an external cargo hook able to lug around at least 10,000 pounds and hopefully up to 13,100 pounds.
The Army needs the FLRAA to be able to operate in so-called “hot-and-high” environments. The rotorcraft has to retain at least 95 percent of normal power to the rotors even at altitudes up to 6,000 feet and in temperatures of up to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, while carrying 12 passengers and enough fuel for a combat radius of 120 nautical miles, and perform a 500 feet-per-minute climb out of the landing zone. If possible, the service wants the design to lose no power at all under these conditions.
You can see the Army's full threshold and objective requirements by clicking on the source
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Air Platforms
MDHI reveals new MD 969 Combat Explorer helo
Gareth Jennings, London - Jane's Defence Weekly 06 March 2019
"The MD 969, which was showcased at the HAI HELI-EXPO event in Atlanta, Georgia, on 5 March, shares the same basic outer mould line as its civilian stablemate and retains the no-tailrotor (NOTAR) configuration of the baseline helicopter.
Where the MD 969 differs most from the MD 902 is in the provision of four munitions hardpoints mounted on an integrated weapons plank. The helicopter at HELI-EXPO was displayed carrying a mix of rocket pods and 12.7 mm heavy machine gun pods, while a promotional video released by MDHI showed it fitted with AGM-114 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles and 7.62 mm door-mounted Gatling-guns.
Other features include a composite fuselage and a digital 'glass' cockpit with three Genesys Aerosystems integrated IDU-680 multi-functional displays (MFDs) and one Macro-Blue tactical display, while the 173 cubic feet cabin volume allows for the carriage of up to six combat troops.
Speaking at the event, MDHI CEO Lynn Tilton reportedly said that the company is pitching the MD 969 at the US Army's upcoming Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) requirement, which is part of the service's wider Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme.
As such, it will be powered by the Improved Turbine Engine Programme (ITEP) powerplant (selected as the General Electric T901-GE-900 in February, but currently subject to a protest from rival bidder Advanced Turbine Engine Company [ATEC]) that will be fitted to the FARA helicopter, as well as the US Army's current fleet of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64E Apache Guardian helicopters.
"My personal focus this year is bringing this 969 to the marketplace. This will be a lethal machine, filling the missing space we have in the attack market," Tilton said.
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Army Futures Command
Official website for the Army Futures Command located in Austin, Texas and dedicated to modernizing the US Army using innovative solutions
