Posted on 05/11/2025 3:59:20 PM PDT by Libloather
It’s a plane. It’s a helicopter. It’s both. Meet "FLRAA," the Army’s new tiltrotor for Future Long-Range Air Assault. This is how the Army will island hop in the Pacific to fend off China. And by the way, Chinese President Xi Jinping has nothing like it.
With a stunning announcement, the Army did more than ax 40 generals and open the door to AI. The Army bet its future on this radical aircraft, whose engines swivel to take off and land like a helicopter, or fly high and fast like an airplane.
This aircraft was on pace to enter the Army inventory in the early 2030s.
Then came the Army shake-up. On May 1, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the Army to focus more on the Indo-Pacific. In that region, sheer distance and Chinese missile threat rings are locking out current helicopters. For the mission of air assault – when troops move into hostile and contested areas by rotary-wing aircraft – the hard truth is that the Army has a looming capability gap.
"We can't actually do the large-scale, long-range air assault today" with the speed and distance required in modern warfare, Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, said last year.
That’s unacceptable, given Xi’s growing appetite for military confrontation.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
So it’s another Osprey
My thoughts exactly.
Yup
So we are on the hook for another Osprey. Got it.
What requirements will this platform do that the Osprey can’t? Not crash and burn?
Not hardly.
Cannot come in hot for quick pick-up or fast-rope.
They have to transition from fwd flight over the LZ - nothing says "hit me" like a loiter over a hot LZ.
That's why the Army intends to fly Black Hawks for another 30+ years.
I can’t wait for the first report that some young Warrant Officer took one out and barrel-rolled it.
You know someone is going to try.
It's much better than an Osprey because the rotors tilt, but the engines remain horizontal.
With the Osprey the engines rotate to the vertical when the rotors are tilted, which points the exhaust at the ground (melting tarmac,) and greatly complicating the cross connect power shaft connections that are necessary for rotor synchronization and engine-out emergencies.
The Valor's horizontal engine placement simplifies the cross connect shaft, and keeps engine exhaust from overheating runways or ship decks.
Can’t see a role for the A-10 in the Indo-Pacific region.
Meet “FLRAA,”
That’s not a name. Should be focusing on drones anyways.
Why rotors instead of jet engines? Can that not be done? I’m just a fungus.....
Correct!
If the Army and Navy have their own aircraft, why do we need a separate Air Force? Why not put all our aircraft under Army and Navy control, as in WW2?
Looks like but with jets on wing tips haven seen that before?.
> Why not put all our aircraft under Army and Navy control, as in WW2? <
There is a place for an Air Force in strategic bombing. But I’m guessing that if the Army ran the Air Force today, army generals would push for ground support planes over strategic bombers.
Just a guess.
Doesn’t share a shaft down the middle. Think of it as a high speed Chinook.
I like it.
Looks like another Osprey. Someone at the Pentagon must be in love with that design.
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