Skip to content
Fiscal Receipts

Future Long Range Assault Aircraft Development

ARDT&EFully Reconciled0605241A
What it is
Future Long Range Assault Aircraft Development — a research & development program run by Army.
What changed
-$5.09M FY25→26
Who gets it
No award linkage at high confidence.

Budget Figures

FY24 Actuals
FY25 Total
$1.25B
FY26 Request
$1.25B
FY25→26 Change
-$5.09M

FY2026 award data is a partial year — USASpending awards are reported on a rolling basis and the fiscal year does not close until September 30. why partial FY2026 data? →

Budget Trajectory
FY25: $1.25BFY26: $1.25BFY25FY26
FY25
$1.25B
FY26
$1.25B
Decade view — each figure cites its own President's Budget edition
FY2025 enacted — PB2026 editionFY2025 request — PB2025 editionFY2026 request — PB2026 editionFY25FY26

● actuals (line)  ·  ○ enacted  ·  ◇ request — gaps are editions the program is absent from, never interpolated.

SeriesFY25FY26
Enacted$1.25B
Request$1.25B$1.25B

blank = series not published for this year; – = absent from that edition.

Program Lineage

No predecessor/successor lineage was recorded for this program element — no FY-to-FY transfer into or out of this line was stated in the ingested J-books, and none was inferred from the program structure.

Description

Mission Future Long Range Assault Aircraft

The Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) Project's funding provides Combatant Commanders with deterrence, power projection, and tactical capabilities at operational and strategic distances. FLRAA will retain the Army's ability to project combat power with significantly increased range, speed, mobility, and payload over current Army and Special Operations Command (SOCOM) aircraft. FLRAA is the next generation vertical lift aircraft designed to conduct air assault, urban assault/security, maritime interdiction, medical evacuation, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, tactical resupply, direct action, noncombatant evacuation operations, and combat search and rescue operations. FLRAA will support the Army, including Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the Joint Force, in a contested, near peer threat environment. In FY 2024, FLRAA achieved a successful Milestone B decision allowing the program to enter into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase. In FY 2025, funding previously planned in PE 0603801A (Aviation - Adv Dev) / Project B47 (Future Vertical Lift) transitioned to Budget Activity 6.5 PE 0605241A (Future Long Range Assault Aircraft Development)/ Project DG5 (Future Long Range Assault Aircraft) for execution of Engineering and Manufacturing Development and to support Budget Activity guidance for programs achieving Milestone B. The FY 2026 budget request funds design updates, continues Prototype and Limited User Test (LUT) aircraft manufacturing, initiates testing, begins production planning, and continues refinement of a digital backbone architected to meet Modular Open System Approach (MOSA) objectives.

Mission Future Long Range Assault Aircraft Development

This funding line directly aligns to the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Army modernization priority. FVL is an initiative to develop a family of vertical lift aircraft for the United States Armed Forces. The Department of Defense (DOD) established FVL to focus vertical lift capabilities and technology development as well as retain long-term industrial base capabilities. The Deputy Secretary of Defense issued the FVL Strategic Plan in 2012 to outline a joint approach for the next generation vertical lift aircraft for all military services. The Strategic Plan provided a foundation for replacing the current fleet with advanced capability by shaping the development of vertical lift aircraft for the next 25 to 40 years. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, the Army identified FVL as one of the Army's six modernization priorities and established the FVL Cross Functional Team (CFT). The FVL objectives are increased vertical lift maneuverability, range, speed, payload, survivability, and reliability while reducing the logistics footprint. This capability will provide critical vertical lift aviation capability in multi-domain operations to the joint warfighter and maneuver force. The Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) weapon system provides Combatant Commanders with deterrence, power projection, and tactical capabilities at operational and strategic distances. The Army competitively awarded the weapon system development contract in December 2022, using a hybrid acquisition approach. FLRAA integrates advanced technologies, using a modular open systems approach, and design configurations with appropriate trades to ensure affordability. In FY 2025, funding previously planned in PE 0603801A (Aviation - Adv Dev) / Project B47 (Future Vertical Lift) transitioned to Budget Activity 6.5 PE 0605241A (Future Long Range Assault Aircraft Development)/ Project DG5 (Future Long Range Assault Aircraft) for execution of Engineering and Manufacturing Development and to support Budget Activity guidance for programs achieving Milestone B.

Justification

Accomplishments & Planned Programs (2)

FLRAA MEDEVAC Development and Integration

The FLRAA MEDEVAC program involves designing, developing, integrating, delivering, and supporting MEDEVAC mission equipment for the FLRAA. This includes designing platform provisions to facilitate the rapid installation of the MEDEVAC Mission Equipment Package (MEP). The MEP comprises a sensor capable of visually acquiring casualties when vision is obscured, and a modular, adjustable, and reconfigurable Patient Handling System (PHS) with supplemental cabin temperature control if necessary. The aim is to create a MEDEVAC aircraft capable of quickly reaching, evacuating, and providing enroute critical care to patients on the future battlefield.

Future Long Range Assault Aircraft Weapon System Development

Execution of the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the Acquisition Cycle. This includes developmental engineering, prototype manufacturing, test and qualification, supportability planning, systems engineering and program management activities.

Budget Line Items(workbook-cited)

Exhibit R-1

AccountOrgTypeAmount
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, ArmyAFY25 Enacted$1.25B
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, ArmyAFY25 Total$1.25B
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, ArmyAFY26 Disc. Request$1.25B
Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, ArmyAFY26 Total$1.25B

Budget Details(R-2/P-40 facts)

ProjectFY25 TotalFY26 BaseFY26 Request
Program Element$1.25B$1.25B$1.25B
DG5: Future Long Range Assault Aircraft$1.25B$1.25B$1.25B

No follow-the-dollar view — this program's awards haven't been crosswalked at high confidence (flows cover 17 of 1741 programs). why coverage is partial? →

Awards

No awards are linked to this program element at high confidence — the budget→award crosswalk only asserts links it can defend, and this line has none yet.

Lobbying Mentions

No Senate LDA lobbying filing in the tracked data mentions this program element by code or alias.

Program dossier

Every sentence below carries its citation — warehouse figures open the citation panel, news claims link the cached source.

Research dossiers exist for 50 of 1741 programs — the 50 largest fully J-book-detailed programs by FY2026 request. why no dossier here? →

What it is

  • Future Long Range Assault Aircraft Development (program element 0605241A) is a U.S. Army development program funded in the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Army account.
  • The program directly aligns to the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Army modernization priority, an initiative to develop a family of vertical-lift aircraft for the U.S. Armed Forces and to retain long-term industrial-base capabilities.
  • The Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) is the next-generation vertical-lift aircraft designed to conduct air assault, urban assault and security, maritime interdiction, medical evacuation, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, tactical resupply, direct action, noncombatant evacuation, and combat search and rescue in a contested, near-peer threat environment.
  • FLRAA is intended to give Combatant Commanders deterrence, power projection, and tactical capabilities at operational and strategic distances, with significantly increased range, speed, mobility, and payload over current Army and Special Operations Command aircraft.
  • The Army competitively awarded the FLRAA weapon-system development contract in December 2022 using a hybrid acquisition approach, and the aircraft integrates advanced technologies using a modular open systems approach with design trades to ensure affordability.
  • A dedicated MEDEVAC effort designs, develops, and integrates medical-evacuation mission equipment for FLRAA, including a Mission Equipment Package with a casualty-acquisition sensor and a modular, reconfigurable Patient Handling System to provide en-route critical care on the future battlefield.

Why it matters

  • The program's total funding is roughly flat year over year, moving from $1,253,637 thousand in FY2025 to $1,248,544 thousand (about $1.25 billion) requested for FY2026.
  • That is a small year-over-year decrease of $5,093 thousand (about $5.1 million) from FY2025 to FY2026.
  • The entire FY2026 request of $1,248,544 thousand is discretionary funding; there is no reconciliation (mandatory) component in this program element.
  • The FY2026 budget request funds design updates, continues manufacturing of Prototype and Limited User Test (LUT) aircraft, initiates testing, begins production planning, and continues refinement of a digital backbone architected to meet Modular Open System Approach objectives.
  • In FY2024, FLRAA achieved a successful Milestone B decision, allowing the program to enter the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase.
  • In FY2025, funding previously planned in PE 0603801A (Aviation - Advanced Development), Project B47 (Future Vertical Lift), transitioned into this program element's Project DG5 to execute Engineering and Manufacturing Development after the Milestone B decision.

Key players

  • The program is run by the U.S. Army, with funding drawn from the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation, Army appropriation.
  • The Army established a Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team (CFT) after identifying FVL as one of the Army's six modernization priorities in FY 2017, and the effort traces to the Deputy Secretary of Defense's 2012 FVL Strategic Plan outlining a joint approach for the services' next generation of vertical-lift aircraft.
  • FLRAA is intended to support the Army, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), and the Joint Force, reflecting the program's cross-service user community.