Hope Seck
As battlefields become increasingly hostile to conventional combat platforms, the Army is pushing forward with its two-decade effort to develop a new family of helicopters and rotorcraft through its Future Vertical Lift program while incorporating lessons from the war in Ukraine.
The Army recently concluded a major experimental event focused on its Future Vertical Lift program at its Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Five unidentified companies were selected to participate out of 36 applicants. The event, known as Experimental Demonstration Gateway Event (EDGE) 24 ultimately included one robot, seven ground technologies, three aerial platforms, and 28 launched-effect surrogates – “launched effects” refers to uncrewed vehicles that can be fired from another platform. Earlier this year, Breaking Defense reported that an Army UH-60 Black Hawk would be used as a test platform for autonomy and launched effects, with flights set to start early next year.
It’s the first EDGE event since the Army canceled its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program earlier this year which hit a dead end after investing $2 billion in research and development. That change, as Army Chief of Staff Randy George explained at the time, was also informed by the war in Ukraine. “Aerial reconnaissance has fundamentally changed” in light of the ability of inexpensive unmanned flying systems to traverse combat zones in depth and inflict damage at minimal risk, he said.
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