The U.S. Army has officially designated MV-75 as the mission design series for its Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, a key modernization effort aimed at fielding the next generation of vertical lift tactical assault and utility aircraft for the Army and U.S. Special Operations Command.
The Army’s High Speed Maneuverable Missile Program meets pivotal milestone (15. Juli 2025)
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center, or DEVCOM AvMC, recently completed a series of successful flight tests for its High-Speed Maneuverable Missile (HSMM) Science & Technology (S&T) Program, which provides technology to support a compact, fast, maneuverable missile capable from short range engagements to long range, non-line-of-sight attack beyond 120 km in degraded and contested environments.
With support from industry partner Anduril, DEVCOM AvMC successfully completed multiple flight tests of HSMM, encapsulating both software and hardware updates that successfully demonstrated the capability’s speed, maneuverability, extended range, and terminal guidance engagement.
Upcoming testing includes flight demonstration of the novel boost motor technology being developed under this effort validating a key enabling technology. Further testing includes integration of Precision Target Acquisition Software (PTAS), a government-developed and government-owned imaging missile seeker target acquisition and track suite with autonomous capabilities leading to a full system test from boost to impact.
Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company (NYSE: LMT) today announced a new U.S. Army contract that will fund Black Hawk® modernization engineering efforts. The initial $43 million contract award will focus on foundational capabilities for modernization: enhancement of the airframe and inclusion of a digital backbone capability to allow for rapid unmanned aerial systems (UAS) integration. The award also includes development of requirements and architecture using model-based systems engineering (MBSE).
The contract will support the Army's near-term priority to integrate launched effects into the Black Hawk, enabling the aircraft to deploy UAS and other effects to enhance its mission capabilities. Lockheed Martin has been demonstrating launched effects capability with Black Hawk for years, and is working with the Army to deliver a federated capability in 2026.
The MBSE and digital engineering effort will focus on developing a digital thread of the Black Hawk for collaborative and effective design, testing and maintenance of the aircraft. The Black Hawk digital backbone effort, supporting a Modular Open System Approach (MOSA), will involve the development of advanced systems and software to support the aircraft's modernization. This digital backbone facilitates rapid capability insertion to quickly respond to future platform mission needs.
This initial work on airframe enhancements, main fuel and digital backbone set a strong foundation for further rapid capability updates to Black Hawk. With a more powerful engine, airframe enhancements and a main fuel upgrade, the aircraft will carry more payload at greater range, and future upgrades to flight controls to include autonomy and AI features that will assist pilots in tough conditions increasing mission safety and effectiveness.
U.S. Army tests spike missile from AH-64 in Poland
The United States Army, in close cooperation with the Polish Air Force Inspectorate, successfully completed a joint live fire campaign of the Spike NLOS missile system from a U.S. Army 12th Combat Aviation Brigade AH-64Ev6 Apache Guardian helicopter.
The campaign, held on the northern coast of Poland, marked an important milestone for allied long-range precision strike capabilities. During the campaign, two Spike NLOS missiles engaged sea-based targets at distances of up to 25 kilometers, demonstrating precision strike accuracy and flexible target engagement from a rotary-wing platform.
