Future Verticle Lift Technology

FY2026 to FY2027 change Funding decrease reflects realignment to Medical Standards to Support Design of Future Vertical Lift (FVL).

FY2026 plans — current year Provide a correlation of HGU-56/P Aircrew Integrated Helmet System damage to head injury in Army helicopter accidents. Determine efficacy of novel technologies to predict aviator performance and increase operator situational awareness. Investigate face/eye injury and neck/spine injury for Future Vertical Lift platforms. Create and validate an adaptive automation system driven by physiological input from the Army aircrew or UAS operator, and identify specific challenges related to engagement and workload transitions. Continue developing algorithms to determine when an aviator becomes cognitively overloaded.

FY2025 accomplishments Assess physiologic changes in aviators during cognitive workload. Define the temporal components of an aviator/operator state monitoring system. Determine the efficacy of multisensory cues to maintain optimal flight performance and increase situational awareness under operational stressors. Provide a correlation of HGU-56/P Aircrew Integrated Helmet System damage to head injury. Measure operator response to simulated adaptive automation. Study neurophysiological patterns of spatial disorientation in rotary-wing operations. Conduct a retrospective analysis of injures in accidents involving DoD tilt-rotor and standard rotary wing airframes. Study the effects of 3D auditory cues and automatic…

FY2027 planned work Use medical injury data to improve next generation aircrew protection equipment for FVL. Determine requirements for next generation aircrew helmets that will prevent concussion in survivable Army helicopter accidents. Recommend new vibration health hazard assessment criteria for FVL that incorporate head-supported mass design guidance. Determine requirements for wearable sensors and artificial intelligence to detect and predict aircrew and UAV operator performance decrements, informing onboard adaptive automation systems on future aircraft (FVL) to maintain and improve aircrew and UAV operator performance. Determine optimal ways to maintain operator situational awareness in a dynamic…

FY2026 to FY2027 change Funding increase reflects realignment from Medical Standards to Support Future Vertical Lift (FVL) and the planned continuation of this effort.

FY2027 planned work Will design and develop promising high payoff missile technologies to provide autonomous capabilities, enhanced lethal mechanisms, advanced propulsion, novel navigation and guidance in contested environments, and reduced size and weight components to defeat future threats. Will perform component design reviews and conduct laboratory experiments to validate design of the high payoff missile technologies.

FY2026 to FY2027 change Funding increase reflects research to design, develop, and evaluate multiple high payoff technologies

FY2026 plans — current year Will perform trade studies to evaluate emerging technologies with high payoff potential to address current technology shortfalls; perform concept development of high payoff emerging technologies.

FY2026 to FY2027 change Funding decrease reflects completion of this effort.

FY2026 plans — current year Will mature and test the maturation and testing of aircraft signature reduction technologies; mature and refine team-based survivability planning algorithms and behaviors utilizing software integration lab (SIL) testing; improve modeling and simulation tools and expertise in anticipation of team-based operations in complex future threat environments; update test, evaluation, and data reduction capabilities in support of future army aircraft signature measurements and survivability assessments.

FY2025 accomplishments Will continue the maturation of RF material for improved durability improvement and weight reduction. Continue to mature and refine algorithms, behaviors, and human machine interface for team-based survivability and begin software in the loop integration. Will continued development and testing of uniquely tailored Electro-Optical/ Infrared coating formulations for FVL and UAS applications. Developed microclimatology algorithms improved survivability situational understanding. Development and maturation of survivability and mission effectiveness modeling and simulation toolsets. Will investigate aviation survivability science and technology concepts and component technologies.

FY2025 accomplishments Will develop decision-making algorithms capable of dynamically adapting to changes in threat state and position; assess methods for distributed detection and geolocation of A2/AD threats and quantify improvements in accuracy; model multi-mission EW payload hardware and simulate sensing and effects performance in multi-node configuration.

FY2027 planned work Will mature and investigate aircraft signature reduction technologies; assessments and refinement of team-based survivability planning algorithms and behaviors utilizing software integration lab (SIL) experiments; improve modeling and simulation tools and expertise in anticipation of manned and unmanned, team-based operations in complex future threat environments; mature analysis, experimentation, and data reduction capabilities in support of future army aircraft signature measurements and survivability assessments.

FY2026 to FY2027 change Funding increase reflects initiation of System Survivability and Protection in Complex Environments - Concepts (SSPiCE-C).

FY2027 planned work Will investigate adapting bistatic radar automatic target recognition (ATR) algorithms for Army applications. Investigate image formation and pre-processing techniques to enhance radar ATR performance.

FY2026 to FY2027 change Funding decrease represents completion of trade study and development of report.

FY2026 plans — current year Will investigate and develop distributed radar automatic target recognition (ATR) methods and techniques; determine impact of timing and synchronization approaches on radar image formation; conduct experiments to validate distributed radar ATR algorithm performance and evaluate against benchmarks.

FY2025 accomplishments Will perform a trade study to investigate and inform government and industry of potential problem space contributions through experimentation, studies, and modeling and simulation. Create appropriate documentation and trade studies report to capture findings. Investigate radar waveforms and AI/ML technologies supporting target identification, classification, tracking and prosecution of battlefield threats using radar observations made across distributed platforms. Conduct experiments and laboratory proof-of-concepts to validate initial component designs and concepts.

FY2026 to FY2027 change Funding decrease reflects strategic reallocation of resources of Program Element (PE) 0602148A (Future Vertical Lift Technology) / Project CI4 (Adaptive Avionics Technologies) for the creation of Future Architecture Improvements for MOSA (FAIM) initiative.

FY2026 plans — current year Will continue to conduct trade studies that investigate and begin to determine which technologies to pursue and/or mature; continue to conduct engagements with stakeholders to ensure priority alignment for the technologies selected to be pursued and/or matured, respective to Adaptive Avionics 6.3 efforts.

FY2025 accomplishments Will continue to conduct trade studies that further explore and narrow technology focuses in support of Adaptive Avionics advanced research activities. The types of research envisioned under these studies may include, but are not limited to, market research, analysis, and experimentation. Conduct engagements with stakeholders to ensure priority alignment and will begin to provide lessons learned from trade studies and market research to respective Adaptive Avionics 6.3 efforts.

FY2026 to FY2027 change Funding decrease reflects the strategic reallocation of resources to support evolving priorities and objectives.

FY2026 plans — current year Will fund research and conduct in-house experiments into in-flight, dynamic mission planning technologies and capabilities; investigate information synthesis and management, communication, and in-flight reporting in complex, contested environments.

FY2025 accomplishments Will engage with Academia, Industry, and other DOD agencies to initiate research for the integration of the relevant technology outputs from applicable S&T programs into a holistic mission manager for FVL platforms.