ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

An upcoming Hot Topic forum hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army will focus on Army aviation.

The theme for the daylong in-person event is “40th Anniversary of the Aviation Branch: Honoring the Past and Transforming for the Future.”

Featuring Douglas Bush, assistant Army secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology, as the keynote speaker, the event will take place Feb. 23 at AUSA’s headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

Registration is open, and it is free for military members, government employees and media.

In a long-anticipated demonstration, an unmanned Black Hawk helicopter flew for a prolonged period, navigated varied terrain and performed tasks that helicopter crews would perform on the battlefield.

As part of a Project Convergence 2022 Technology Gateway exercise, the helicopter with no humans aboard carried out a medical resupply mission and a combined mission that involved cargo delivery and casualty evacuation.

From aircraft to pilot training, the Army continues to push ahead with efforts to transform its aviation capabilities.

“The helicopters we have right now originally were designed in the 1960s … and we really need to get into the digital age with our fleets,” said Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, director of the Army’s Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team. “We’re running out of size, weight [and] power capabilities within the footprint of our current fleet.”

The Army must continue the work it has begun to update its fleet of helicopters with aircraft that can fly further and faster across the future battlefield, several top Army aviation experts said.

“Modernization is an imperative,” Brig. Gen. Robert Barrie, Aviation program executive officer, said March 17 as he appeared on a panel during the Association of the U.S. Army’s Global Force Next virtual conference. 

“I don't see it as a choice,” Barrie said. “It’s a matter of us prioritizing those efforts.”

The demand for Army aviation will continue to grow beyond current requirements, which are already high, said Maj. Gen. David Francis, commander of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker, Alabama.

"The demand for aviation is as high as it ever has been and is not getting lower," he said.

Francis made his remarks during a presentation on the Army’s Future Vertical Lift modernization efforts Oct. 16 at the Association of the U.S. Army’s Annual Meeting and Exposition. 

The Army aviation director says a little time and more resources will resolve a pilot shortfall.

Short about 700 pilots for at least two years, the Army is not having any problems recruiting new aviators but needs to increase training capacity to get them ready, said Brig. Gen. Michael McCurry, who was assigned as aviation director earlier this year in the office of the deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and training.

New aircraft, new training regimens and new formations could be coming to Army aviation, said Maj. Gen. David Francis, the Fort Rucker and Army Aviation Center of Excellence commanding general.

The decline in the number of Army pilots over the past decade has been reversed over the past 18 months with more predictable funding and newly authorized retention bonuses for mid- and senior-career aviators, the Army’s chief of aviation said.