Critical design review for FLRAA will occur in early FY-25, Camarillo says

DENVER -- The Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program is anticipated to undergo a critical design review in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, Army Under Secretary Gabe Camarillo said in a recorded address April 24 at the Army Aviation Association of America conference here.

Bell Textron was awarded the contract for FLRAA, the eventual replacement for the Black Hawk, in December 2022.

The program is scheduled to enter milestone B, engineering and manufacturing development, later in FY-24, Camarillo said. The critical design review occurs during this stage in order to determine a system’s ability to “meet stated performance requirements within cost, schedule and risk.”

The Army announced in February that it would be terminating the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program as part of an aviation rebalance. However, Army officials have said multiple times since then that they remain committed to FLRAA -- another major effort within the service’s Future Vertical Lift portfolio.

In his address to conference attendees, Camarillo said “critical innovation” from work that has been done on FARA “will benefit our entire aviation portfolio.”

“Particularly this will show up in the areas of model-based systems engineering, and modular open systems architectures. Additionally, a successful ground run of one of the prototype aircraft for FARA will reduce risks on future Improved Turbine Engine integration efforts on the other platforms,” he said.