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US Army makes little outward progress on aviation modernisation one year after major strategy pivot

One year ago, the US Army announced sweeping changes to its aviation strategy.

Older “Lima” model Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks would be retired, rather than modernised, and an engine upgrade for its Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64 Apache fleets was put on hiatus. Ageing D-model Apaches would also be divested and not replaced.

At the 2025 Army Aviation Association of America gathering, the service also confirmed definitive plans to ditch the Airbus UH-72A Lakota as its primary trainer helicopter and pivot away from the traditional government procurement strategy for both a new training rotorcraft and frontline uncrewed aerial systems (UAS).

This week, the army aviation community will return to Nashville, Tennessee for the 2026 conference, known colloquially as Quad A, where updates of those many initiatives are expected.

Outwardly, there appears to have been little progress.

Bell is quietly progressing on the new MV-75 tiltrotor – the army’s most significant aviation modernisation effort. Delivery and first flight of an initial prototype is expected by late 2026 or early 2027, although we will likely learn more on that front at Quad A this week.

Source: Bell

Development of the T901 Improved Turbine Engine propulsion upgrade for the UH-60M and AH-64E has been deprioritised and delayed, although apparently not killed altogether. T901 manufacturer GE Aerospace is expected to provide an update on test and integration work on the new turboshaft this week.

The UH-72A replacement is grinding forward in the selection process, with last year’s crowded field winnowed down to just three contenders: Bell, AAR and M1 Support Services. The three bidders are offering not just an aircraft (which will be contractor-owned and maintained), but also a full training curriculum for new rotary-wing aviators.

On the hardware side, Bell’s proposal is built around the company’s 505 light-single, while M1 and AAR are both pitching the Robinson R66 light-single. Bids from Boeing, Lockheed Martin and MD Helicopters were all rejected by the army in recent months.

The army is also setting the stage for major decisions about the future of its workhorse Black Hawk.

Under a contract awarded last year, start-up Near Earth Autonomy has been conducting test flights with a conversion kit that turns a standard UH-60L into an optionally unmanned platform the company calls the RUC-60L.

Separately, Sikorsky in March delivered the first UH-60MX – the first “Mike”-model Black Hawk to be equipped with the company’s Matrix autonomy package that allows the UH-60 to fly in reduced crew and fully unmanned modes.

With the army still planning to purchase new-build UH-60Ms for another few years, the ability to add autonomous flight capability will likely be a key consideration in the long-term plans for both the Lima- and Mike-model rotorcraft.

Enhancing existing rotorcraft like the Black Hawk and AH-64E attack helicopter with air-launched UAS is another much-watched line of effort – one which has made only halting progress.

Known within the US Army as “launched effects”, numerous companies have pitched small drones and cruise missiles that can carry kinetic warheads or mission system payloads for battlefield reconnaissance. Examples include the Anduril Industries Altius, L3Harris Red/Green Wolf, Northrop Grumman Lumberjack and others.

While the goal is to allow vulnerable rotorcraft to remain further removed from enemy threats, to date the army has done little more than test fire surrogate launched effects from the UH-60 and AH-64E.

In March, the service conducted the first-ever test fire of one such UAS from the Apache, although frontline deployment still appears a way off.

While the army has changed its drone procurement approach to abandon lengthy new developments and buy existing solutions, the service (and the entire US military writ large) appears to be a decade behind the Ukrainian army when it comes to developing a modern UAS and counter-UAS paradigm for frontline combat units.

By contrast, industry is racing to develop new and radical solutions for uncrewed battlefield systems, many of which will be on display at Quad A.

Both Boeing and Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin are testing autonomous rotorcraft envisioned as “loyal wingman” for rotary-wing aviators. Sikorsky’s Nomad uses the novel rotor-blown wing configuration, while Boeing opted for a miniaturised tiltrotor called the Collaborative Transformational Rotorcraft.

Updates on both are expected at Quad A, as is news on efforts to develop uncrewed cargo aircraft.

Sikorsky in October said it is ready to start producing a fully-autonomous cargo variant of the Black Hawk dubbed the S-70UAS U-Hawk, while Airbus is flight testing an uncrewed derivative of the UH-72 called the MQ-72C, geared for logistics support.

In the past month, Robinson also unveiled its own offering in the space – an autonomous cargo derivative of the R66 called the TurbineTruck, powered by Sikorsky’s Matrix system.

Exactly how the army will engage with all these new options remains unclear.

The service’s aviation strategy has gone through multiple pivots over the past five years and remains somewhat muddled. It is unclear whether that is being driven by standard Pentagon bureaucracy versus the dangerous political environment in Washington.

Trump Administration defence chief Pete Hegseth has fired close to a dozen senior generals over the past 14 months, including most recently army chief of staff General Randy George and then General David Hodne, who was at the helm of the army command overseeing technological modernisation efforts until this month.

Such tumult at the top is likely to see even more chaos within the army’s aviation strategy.

This week, the rotorcraft industry will descend upon Nashville hoping to get answers and clarity.

Keep an eye on FlightGlobal’s defence page for dispatches from Quad A and our usual global coverage of military aviation.