It has been decades since the U.S. Army had the chance to define a clean-sheet rotorcraft. But an opportunity is approaching as the service heads toward the multi-year demonstration of configurations and technologies for next-generation utility/attack rotorcraft that could replace today’s Sikorsky UH-60s and Boeing AH-64s, beginning around 2030.
The Joint Multi-Role (JMR) concept evolved from an analysis of U.S. vertical-lift needs, which included a painful assessment of the shortfalls of current rotorcraft and gaps in industry capabilities. The conclusion was that another round of upgrades for existing platforms would not be enough, and that a technology demonstration program was needed to get industry up to speed to deliver a next-generation rotorcraft on time and on cost.
The JMR technology demonstration is intended to apply to all classes of Army rotorcraft, from armed scout to heavy lift, but is focused on the medium utility-class because replacing the Black Hawk fleet “offers the biggest bang for the buck,” says Ned Chase, JMR technology-demonstration team leader and chief of the platform technology division at the Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD).
