Future Vertical Lift (FVL)
FVL was the Army’s third modernization priority and has been reduced to essentially one program. FARA was cancelled in 2024, FTUAS in 2025, and the Army tried and failed to end the T901 engine. What remains is the MV-75 tilt-rotor, the Army’s most expensive aviation development in a generation, plus a large legacy divestiture. The FVL Cross-Functional Team closed on October 1, 2025.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Modernization priority area |
| Legacy owner | Future Vertical Lift CFT, Redstone Arsenal, AL (2017 to Oct 1, 2025) |
| Current requirements home | Aviation Future Capability Directorate, Futures_and_Concepts_Command, Redstone Arsenal, under Cain_Baker |
| Current acquisition home | PAE_Maneuver_Air via CPE_Aviation and CPE_Mission_Autonomy |
| ATI commitment | Develop the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft |
Mission
Replace the Vietnam-era rotorcraft design generation with aircraft that have the speed and range to matter in the Pacific, where the distances between islands exceed the practical combat radius of a UH-60. The portfolio also absorbed the Army’s attack reconnaissance problem after the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior retired without a replacement.
Program Areas
| Program | Role | Status as of mid-2026 |
|---|---|---|
| MV-75 Cheyenne II (Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, FLRAA) | Tilt-rotor assault aircraft to succeed the UH-60 Black Hawk in the air assault role | Designated MV-75 in 2025 and named Cheyenne II on April 15, 2026, honoring the Cheyenne Tribe. First virtual prototype accepted June 24, 2025. Army leadership expected a flight prototype for testing by late 2026 or early 2027, though the acquisition executive for maneuver air called it “too early to tell” whether that holds. First unit equipped with 24 aircraft planned for FY2030. |
| Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) | Armed scout | Cancelled February 2024, before ATI. The Army concluded the manned scout role was better served by unmanned systems and sensors. |
| Future Tactical UAS (FTUAS) | Brigade-level unmanned aircraft to replace the RQ-7 Shadow | Cancelled 2025 under ATI. The Army stated it would not lock into a long-term program of record against a rapidly iterating technology, and moved to a brigade UAS buy instead. |
| Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) / GE T901 | 3,000 shp engine to re-engine the UH-60 and AH-64 | Army sought to end it in the FY2026 request. Congress appropriated roughly $238 million to continue. Flight testing on a modified Black Hawk began May 2025 and continued into 2026; Black Hawk qualification testing expected around 2028. Alive but not Army-requested. |
| AH-64D Apache | Legacy attack | Procurement ended; roughly 60 percent of the legacy D-model fleet divested in the first ATI year. |
| Air-Launched Effects (ALE) | Aircraft-launched unmanned systems for reconnaissance, decoy, and strike | Continues as the effective successor to the FARA mission set. |
Why it matters
One program carries the portfolio. MV-75 is the aviation modernization case. If its schedule slips, the entire FVL priority slips, because there is no second new-build aircraft behind it. That concentration also means the supplier chain around one tilt-rotor, engines, drive systems, avionics, mission equipment, and survivability, is where aviation growth sits.
The attack reconnaissance mission moved to unmanned and did not come back. FARA cancelled, FTUAS cancelled, Gray Eagle cancelled, Apache D divested, seven air cavalry squadrons deactivated. The Army removed the crewed and legacy-unmanned answers without fielding a single replacement program. That gap is being filled by air-launched effects, small UAS bought outside traditional programs of record, and the ATI goal of unmanned systems in every division by the end of 2026. It is the most open competitive space in Army aviation.
Engines are a live congressional fight. ITEP is the clearest example of Congress reversing an ATI decision. Anyone in the rotorcraft propulsion or drivetrain supply chain should track appropriations language rather than Army program statements.
Sustainment shrinks unevenly. Divesting 60 percent of legacy Apaches removes sustainment demand for that fleet while adding disposition and teardown work, and it concentrates remaining sustainment on the AH-64E and UH-60M through CPE_Aviation and AMC.
Requirements moved into the institution. With the FVL CFT closed and its work inside the Aviation Future Capability Directorate at Redstone, aviation requirements engagement now runs through Futures_and_Concepts_Command and the Aviation Center of Excellence rather than a standalone general-officer team.
See Also
- Army_Modernization_Priorities | Army_Transformation_Initiative | ATI_Program_Cancellations | Cross_Functional_Teams
- PAE_Maneuver_Air | CPE_Aviation | CPE_Mission_Autonomy | ASAALT | AMC
- T2COM | Futures_and_Concepts_Command
- Multi_Domain_Operations | Counter_UAS | Army_Network_Modernization
- Defense_Acquisition_System | JCIDS | PPBE_Process
- Program Elements | Appropriations | Budget Activities