Defense contractor lockheed Martin is expected to announce key details in the bidding documents in January to take over the US Army's basic flight training program for helicopters.
The most notable content is the type of aircraft that lockheed will propose to replace the Airbus Helicopters UH2A Lakota helicopter, which is currently being used for training but has caused a lot of controversy.
According to an internal source from lockheed shared with Flight Global, the US military is planning to remove Lakota from the role of main training aircraft, just 5 years after the UH-72A officially took on this mission. This is a major turning point in the US military's helicopter pilot training program.
Previously, lockheed Martin said it would not use the helicopter it produced, but would choose a third-party aircraft for the Flight School Next (FSN) project.
This project aims to find a single contractor capable of taking over the entire initial flight training program (IERW), from building a curriculum, training cockpits, classes, maintaining the flight crew, to providing a completely new helicopter team.
Mr. Eric Carney, Senior Strategy and Business Development Director of Aviation - Commercial Solutions at lockheed, emphasized the customer-centric philosophy.
According to him, lockheed did not impose an existing aircraft platform, but chose the most suitable type and built a training program around it.
Although the specific identity of the helicopter will only be revealed in 2026, lockheed said the proposal for the US Army will be strongly influenced by the comprehensive training programs that the company is implementing in Australia, Singapore and the UK.
These programs focus on cost efficiency, expansion capabilities, and basic flight skills training.
In Australia, lockheed currently manages the AIR548 program, training about 120 pilots per year with a fleet of 49 Pilatus PC-21 aircraft and nine simulation devices.
Singapore is also an early customer of the PC-21 training program, which has been operated by lockheed since 2008 in Western Australia.
In Europe, the airline is in charge of the UK Military Air Training System, including helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
According to Peter Ashworth, global training system director of lock Martin Australia, in addition to safety factors, a successful training program needs to ensure output quality, on schedule and at reasonable costs.
lockheed said it is achieving more than 98% of performance indicators in Australia and Singapore, which is a significant advantage when competing for FSN contracts.
This contract is estimated to bring in about 1.5 billion USD in annual revenue for the winning party. Many competitors are participating, including Bell (Bell Textron Inc.) with the 505 model, MD Helicopters with the 530F, Robinson with the R66. Leonardo, with the TH-73, although once considered a strong candidate, has now joined hands with Boeing and only participated as a subcontractor.
The confirmed common point is that the US Army wants to switch to a single-motor, simple-construction helicopter. Military leaders believe that the UH-72A Lakota two engines are too automated, not suitable for teaching basic driving skills and are costly.
The US Army's Chief of Staff, General James Mingus, affirmed that the goal is to train professional pilots right from the ground.
