Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Tuesday, December 2, 2025
The Army issued its official call for solutions this morning that will kickstart its Flight School Next Initiative -- a program that will use contractor owned and operated aircraft, parts, maintenance, instruction and simulators to train pilots on five types of aircraft.
The Army’s Initial Entry Rotary Wing (IERW) training program at Ft. Rucker, AL is seeking one contractor-owned and operated solution that will provide annual training to between 900 and 1,500 pilots, according to the notice. When implemented, Flight School Next will be the first Army aviation training that uses a fully commercial platform.
IERW has been operating out of Ft. Rucker for more than 50 years, with four separate contracts covering maintenance, instructor pilot services, flight simulation and aircraft logistics services, according to supporting documentation. Between 980 and 1,380 pilots have participated in the training program each year over the past 20 years.
Under Flight School Next, the contractor selected will have a 26-year period of performance, which will involve providing the aircraft, parts, maintenance, instructors and simulation. The Army will supply hangar space, ramp parking, storage and office space, training areas and classrooms.
Flight School Next will focus on training pilots on the AH-64E Apache, UH-60M Black Hawk, CH-47F Chinook, C-12U Huron and the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, also known as the MV-75.
The contract award will include a one-year “build-up period” in which there will be no training, which will give the Army and the contractor time to “assemble capital assets and prepare for commencement of [Flight School Next] training.” Following the build-up period, the Army plans to achieve a training rate of roughly:
A “pre-solution” conference for Flight School Next is scheduled for Thursday at Redstone Arsenal, AL, which will include a discussion of each of the four phases of submission and evaluation.
Responses to the CSO are due Dec. 8 at 2pm.