Army Aviation Warfighting Summit 2026

Sikorsky unveiled a new incarnation of its Armed Black Hawk helicopter at the Army Aviation Warfighting Summit in Nashville last week. TWZ’s Jamie Hunter spoke with Sikorsky’s Matt Isaacson about how this expands mission sets and provides greater flexibility for the Black Hawk, while minimizing the need for separate types with an air arm’s H-60/S-70 fleet.

​Check out our full tour of the aircraft and its weapons:

The H-60 Black Hawk Gunship Evolves With New Wings And Weapons

Contact the author: tyler@twz.com

TWZ got a personal tour of a U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopter by its pilot during the Dubai Air Show in November 2025. Sikorsky has built more than 5,000 examples of the Hawk family of helicopters for 36 nations worldwide. Together they’ve racked up more than 15 million flight hours, including five million in combat.

The UH-60M Black Hawk has a maximum gross weight of 22,000 pounds (9,979 kg) and can transport 12 fully-equipped troops (seated). The variant has also been missionized for various roles, including for U.S. special forces as the MH-60M.

Whether used by the National Guard to respond to disasters, delivering humanitarian aid across Europe, supporting relief operations in the Philippines, battling wildfires in the Firehawk version, or hoisting stranded hikers, the Black Hawk is a truly versatile multi-mission helicopter.

Sikorsky’s Black Hawk modernization efforts will enable more power, greater payload and extended range while reducing fuel consumption. 

Furthermore, with a digital Modular Open-System Approach and autonomy for unmanned operations in its new U-Hawk variant, the Black Hawk will be able to support fast capability integration and enhanced survivability through uncrewed battlefield operations.

Check out the full walk-around video below:

U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk Tour And Mission Brief With Its Pilots

Contact the editor: Tyler@twz.com

General Atomics is calling attention to a new mission for its Mojave short takeoff and landing (STOL) drone: hunting uncrewed aerial threats with laser-guided Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) rockets. The company put a heavy focus on this planned capability in a larger vision for Mojave that rolled out today.

Mojave is also envisioned as launching its own kamikaze drones, escorting friendly helicopters, spotting targets for artillery, and even transporting small cargoes. With its short and rough field capabilities, the drone could also push these capabilities far forward, including to island outposts during a future conflict in the Pacific. This was all showcased in a new computer-generated video, seen below. General Atomics’ Aeronautical Systems, Inc. division (GA-ASI) showed the video first today at the Army Aviation Association of America’s (AAAA) 2026 Warfighting Summit, at which TWZ is in attendance.

Mojave STOL: Real. Rugged. Ready Today.

General Atomics is also now officially referring to the drone at the center of the video as Mojave STOL. The company has previously used the name Gray Eagle STOL to differentiate planned production models from the already flying Mojave demonstrator, which first broke cover in 2021. Mojave is derived from the MQ-1C Gray Eagle, which itself leveraged the preceding MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper designs.

“General Atomics is all-in on providing the best STOL solution for the Army and U.S. allies worldwide,” General Atomics spokesperson C. Mark Brinkley told TWZ. “Everything you see is a capability we can do right now, things already demonstrated on a real, flying aircraft.”

The new video, set “somewhere in the Western Pacific,” focuses first on the rocket-armed drone hunter mission. A Mojave STOL is depicted using an EagleEye multi-mode radar, as well as its infrared sensor in the turret under its nose, to spot and track a pair of kamikaze drones clearly modeled on the Iranian-designed Shahed-136 pattern. EagleEye is another General Atomics product, which was first unveiled in 2022 and has a demonstrated air-to-air target acquisition capability. It also has surface search, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging, and ground moving target indicator (GMTI) modes.

The drone is then shown alerting a forward U.S. outpost to these approaching uncrewed aerial threats via satellite. Using a ruggedized laptop, an operator on the ground then orders the kamikaze drones to be destroyed. A Mojave carrying two 19-shot 70mm rocket pods, one under each wing, then swoops in and shoots them down. Afterward, it is also depicted being rearmed at a very rough-looking, unimproved jungle airstrip.

“We’ve shown APKWS [BAE Systems’ 70mm Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II laser-guided rocket] mounted to Mojave in a static display at some of the recent U.S. Army shows where Mojave STOL was present,” General Atomics’ Brinkley told us. “Integrating new weapons is a multi-part process. Fit tests, weight considerations, captive carry for airworthiness, software, [and] actual live-fire.”

“For Mojave STOL and other GA-ASI aircraft, we’re inside that process now with APKWS,” he added. “It’s flying and firing soon, [in] weeks not months.”

“APKWS has already been demonstrated on other aircraft against airborne targets, so we know the weapon itself works for this mission,” he also noted. “GA-ASI has successfully destroyed other airborne targets using various weapons, including AIM-9X and Hellfire, so we know we can track, target, and hit flying objects of various sizes and speeds.”

APKWS II has had a meteoric rise in popularity in the air-to-air role since the U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters first began using the rockets this way in combat against Houthi drones in 2024, which TWZ was first to report. APKWS II was originally designed as an air-to-surface weapon and then also adapted to the surface-to-air role against drones. The total number of U.S. military and foreign aircraft cleared to use a variant of the rocket specifically optimized for air-to-air use continues to grow. Other companies that make similar laser-guided rockets are also now adapting them for employment in the anti-air role.

As an anti-air weapon against slower-flying and less dynamic targets, APKWS II offers immense benefits over traditional air-to-air missiles when it comes to cost-per-engagement and magazine depth, as you can read more about here. Just carrying two 19-shot pods, Mojave has an impressive 38 engagement opportunities. The drone has six underwing pylons and could carry additional pods, as well as other stores.

After the drone-hunting vignette, General Atomics’ new Mojave video moves on to show one of the drones leading a group of AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters into apparent hostile territory. The drone fires an AeroVironment Switchblade 600 loitering munition to destroy an enemy mobile surface-to-air missile system to help clear the way. GA-ASI, in cooperation with AeroVironment, has previously demonstrated the ability of Switchblade 600 to be air-launched from the MQ-9 Reaper.

The video also shows Mojave being used to find and fix enemy forces, which are then engaged by friendly 155mm howitzers, as well as to carry cargo in underwing pods to forward locations. GA-ASI has previously showcased the potential value of Mojave in the latter role as part of a larger construct to provide logistics support during future expeditionary and distributed operations, even in actively contested environments.

The new video caps off with a Mojave firing on unseen targets with a pair of underwing Minigun pods. This is another capability General Atomics has previously demonstrated in real life. The drone can also carry other stores, including AGM-114 Hellfires and AGM-179 Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles (JAGM), on the pylons under its wings.

General Atomics is pitching the overall vision presented here for Mojave heavily to the U.S. Army, though it has also been engaged with other potential customers. Testing in cooperation with authorities in the United Kingdom and South Korea has demonstrated how the drone’s short-field capabilities could also translate to naval operations from aircraft carriers and big deck amphibious assault ships. Last year, GA-ASI announced a partnership with Hanwha Aerospace in South Korea to produce what was still then being called Gray Eagle STOL in that country.

Mojave Aircraft Carrier Takeoff and Landing

“Mojave STOL provides the versatility that the U.S. Army and others need for the future, with the endurance and persistence they’ve come to rely on, underpinned by experience gleaned from almost 10 million total flight hours,” General Atomics’ Brinkley told us. “That’s why Hanwha jumped in as our partner on this, bringing international investment to further buy down risk.”

“The U.S. Army wants to be successful right out of the gate. No stumbling, no fumbling,” he added. “They’re already integrating tactical drones into the force and experimenting with how that will change the nature of American warfare. They’re bringing a new tiltrotor online. It’s a period of massive change for Army aviation.”

The tiltrotor in question is the MV-75A, now officially nicknamed the Cheyenne II, which Bell derived from its V-280 Valor design. You can read more about the Army’s current plans for this aircraft here.

The Army is now in the early stages of formulating plans to acquire uncrewed companions for the MV-75A and its existing fleets of crewed helicopters. However, the focus so far has been on vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capable designs rather than a fixed-wing type like Mojave, as TWZ has explored previously. In general, greater independence from traditional runways has been a major area of focus across the U.S. military in recent years when it comes to planning for future aviation operations, especially in the context of a high-end fight in the Pacific against China.

“Our engineers are obsessed with developing the next-generation of uncrewed aircraft. More than a decade ago, they dug deep into VTOL and runway independence,” General Atomics’ Brinkley explained. “What they discovered was payload and endurance tradeoffs with VTOL create a lot of challenges when applied to real combat operations. It’s a tough hand to play.”

“Mojave STOL is flying right now. We have five million square feet of existing manufacturing, ready to go,” he added. “We can help the Army integrate a real, rugged, ready today Mojave STOL into the force with far less risk to success.”

Questions have also been raised in the past about the survivability and general utility of drones like Mojave, as well as predecessors like the MQ-1C and MQ-9, in future high-end operations. The latest conflict with Iran has underscored the vulnerability of the Reaper, in particular. Air-launched drones and stand-off munitions, as well as new self-protection capabilities, can help keep these drones further away from enemy defenses. TWZ has also previously highlighted how a drone like Mojave could be used to provide more localized force protection, including against uncrewed aerial threats, at forward outposts and rear areas in the context of a larger conflict.

It’s also worth noting here that while Mojave would not be as quick to respond to incoming drone threats as a tactical jet, it would be able to loiter in a particular area for a longer period of time. It could also provide strike and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) support while on station. Being able to fly from unimproved forward airstrips would also allow it to operate organically with the forces it is assigned to support.

When it comes to the Army, it remains to be seen how that service’s visions for its future drone fleets and crewed-uncrewed teaming evolve. As mentioned, the Mojave STOL’s capabilities, including its ability to act as a rocket-armed drone hunter, could be attractive to other potential operators, who might fly the drones from bases on land or ships at sea.

In the meantime, General Atomics continues to expand on the Mojave concept, which now includes the planned integration of APKWS II laser-guided rockets.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

L3Harris is pushing its modular Wolf Pack family of “launched effects vehicles” for the U.S. Army, including to equip its H-60 Black Hawk series and AH-64 Apache helicopters, with an eye on the specific demands of a future conflict in the Pacific. The family of vehicles includes the Red Wolf, configured for long-range precision strikes against targets on land or at sea, and the Green Wolf fitted with an electronic warfare payload. Overall, these are part of a wider drive toward fielding modular, relatively cheap, and small systems that increasingly blur the line between uncrewed aerial systems, especially longer-range kamikaze drones, and cruise missiles, as well as decoys.

Readers can refer to our previous coverage of the Wolf Pack family, and it is also worth noting that the company is under contract with the U.S. Marine Corps to deliver the related PASM, the Precision Attack Strike Munition.

At the Army Aviation Association of America’s Army Aviation Warfighting Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, this week, TWZ caught up with Brad Reeves, the director of strategy and requirements for the Agile Development Group at L3Harris, to talk about the company’s vision for the Wolf family with the Army.

TWZ: What is the primary driver behind the Wolf family, and how is it relevant to the Army’s rotary-wing fleets?

Brad Reeves: The Department of War has a heavy emphasis on the Pacific and a conflict over there. Mass is an issue. We have a lot of exquisite weapons today, but the numbers are not maybe as high as we might hope for a conflict over there. So, they’re trying to solve that problem. Affordable mass has kind of become the buzzword, which basically means, “hey, how do we get capability that we can buy in quantity without breaking the bank?” And so, with that, the Department of War, actually Secretary Hegseth, issued a memo on April 30 of last year. And one of the things he called out specifically was launched effects, the urgency to get that fielded beginning this year. So, that’s a high-emphasis item for those guys.

Launched effects are really meant to be an affordable mass solution for the Army. But the real story behind this is what we call our Wolf Pack family of systems, and our offering and the capability it brings. And the story here is it’s very capable, but it’s what it does for the Army and for Army aviation. So it’s transforming Army aviation, and it’s addressing platforms that lack some relevancy today in the fight. Black Hawks, Apaches, etc, have a very short-range capability, relatively speaking, when you’re talking about the Pacific, and you have the tyranny of distance and anti-access/area-denial threats. It’s a much harder challenge than what we’ve dealt with in the decades since those aircraft were first invented.

Now we’re basically bringing relevancy to those platforms. We’re transforming from a weapons-effectiveness range and lethality range of single-digit kilometers, maybe up to a dozen kilometers, and we’re now extending that to hundreds of kilometers. We’re taking what before was a single-mission aircraft that’s supporting the Army; it’s doing close combat attack missions for Army soldiers on the ground, and is basically specific to that single service. And we’re now expanding that, and we’re giving that platform a joint or coalition viability in a Pacific flight. And so, the relevance now has increased. We’re taking what was before, a single-domain, fully land-based capability. We’re turning it into multi-domain, so now surface, meaning maritime, and land. And then we’re taking the target sets, which were traditionally tanks, maybe threats that we get from ground forces, etc. Again, we’re expanding that so it can be maritime threats and ground threats. It’s kind of a revolution in the way that the Army is going to fight and what they’re going to contribute to the joint coalition force. The Army desperately needs this capability.

TWZ: And what are the differences between the Wolf Pack family members?

Brad Reeves: Our launched effects offering, we call it the Wolf Pack family of systems. Today, we have two high-level mission capability variants. We have the Red Wolf, which is the kinetic variant, so a cruise missile. We have the Green Wolf, which has a purely (non-kinetic) electronic warfare payload. So now you’re also doing suppression of enemy air defenses. These types of missions, the DILR mission — detect, ID, locate, report — and/or electronic attack to suppress this threat.

Wolf Pack is designed to have multiple variants, so one aircraft, let’s say an Apache in this instance, you could launch multiple variants, Green and Red. You have a Green Wolf that goes out ahead and is searching and building the EMBM, the electromagnetic battle management. Through some software we call DISCO, which is AI-driven software, it’s building the landscape where the threats are, whether on the surface or on the land.

TWZ: How does PASM, the Precision Attack Strike Munition, differ from these?

Brad Reeves: It comes out of our Wolf Pack family. It’s a unique variant designed for the U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z Viper, and we’re delivering early operational capability. They did a long-range precision fire, LRPF, last September, and that was somewhat of a graduation event. Now we’re basically starting to work with production at our plant in Virginia.

TWZ: So these are basically loitering munitions?

Brad Reeves: We don’t consider it a loitering munition, but technically, by definition, yes, what it’s doing is it’s flying a pattern. It’s very smart: it goes out, starts detecting threats, then it will set up a pattern to make sure that a) it’s survivable itself, so it doesn’t fly over a threat and get shot down. But b), it will maximize the search pattern, and then it will deconflict with the others in the pack, so that you can, if you have a large area, you can have one, one will say, “hey, I’m going to go do maybe a zigzag pattern over here looking for threats. You go do a zigzag pattern and then report those back.” Once they find the threats, they’ve got options. Either the aircraft can just avoid the threats because they know where they are, or if they need to go through them, then you can either use electronic attack to jam them, or you can send a signal to one of the kinetic variants. Then the kinetic variant does the destruction of enemy air defenses mission.

That’s kind of why we call it the Wolf Pack: working together collaboratively in a pack to perform a mission that’s assigned by the pilot, and they do that autonomously. They have been ground-launched. They have been air-launched from both manned and unmanned platforms, and they can be launched from rotary-wing or fixed-wing. Since we’re here with the Army, the target is Black Hawks and Apaches very specifically.

TWZ: Would you say that the Wolf Pack is oriented generally towards the SEAD/DEAD mission?

Brad Reeves: It is much broader. But certainly one of the main applications is SEAD/DEAD. With the EW variant, that’s really applicable when you’re doing SEAD/DEAD, or you’re just looking for platform survivability, meaning you’re going towards a mission, but you want to maybe send something out ahead. These fly at high subsonic speeds. They’re going out ahead when launched from a helicopter. They’re scouting out the area, giving them the picture, and allowing them to either avoid, suppress, or defeat threats that may be in their way.

TWZ: Presumably, the cost point of these means the numbers can be fairly scalable, depending on the requirement?

Brad Reeves: Absolutely, it depends on the mission set. One of the advantages is that, while it is an affordable mass munition, it also comes with significant capability. There are some, what I would call differentiators, that put this capability at the high end of the affordable mass, meaning it’s very inexpensive compared to traditional legacy weapons that the forces are using today. We usually say it’s about five times cheaper than what these aircraft would be using today. There are BAAs, broad area announcements, something the U.S. government will release to industry, asking for different capabilities. Right now, when they’re asking for this type of capability, they’re usually targeting somewhere between $300,000 to $500,000 for that market, per round, and we’re certainly in that sweet spot.

TWZ: Aside from the small turbine engine that they share, how modular are the Wolf Pack vehicles themselves?

Brad Reeves: Some people call it a truck, but for some reason, that offends me. But you’ve got the platform, and we’ve designed it modularly with what’s called WOSA, weapon open systems architecture. And so you can interchange the payload. You can take the platform, you can put a warhead in it, and it becomes kinetic. You can take the warhead out, you can put an EW payload in it. I’m oversimplifying a little bit because with the kinetic variant, there are sensors and other stuff. So you probably wouldn’t physically take a kinetic one and swap out the warhead for an EW payload.

TWZ: When it comes to Green Wolf, which has no warhead, is this designed to be expendable or recoverable?

Brad Reeves: We have both. We have a recoverable variant. It depends on what the customer wants. In some instances, they want recoverability. And with recoverability, you lose a little bit of range. So in some instances, it’s going to be on a one-way mission; they just want maximum range. Basically, the parachute equipment we use to recover it takes up a little bit of space that otherwise would be fuel tank space.

TWZ: How do these vehicles navigate?

Brad Reeves: It has the standard inertial navigation and GPS. It has those capabilities inside of it, and then the seeker effectively is used purely for in-game targeting.

TWZ: To what degree would you be able to surge production to meet urgent demands?

Brad Reeves: We gave our manufacturing team the problem and said, “Hey, multiple customers are asking for as many as a thousand per year. We expect this to really blow up. How do we know how big a plant to build? How do we know what we can do?” And so they actually designed a modular, scalable production plan. In theory, you can scale up to as many as you want. But right now, what we’re doing is we’re scaling towards a thousand a year, which is the current path, and then if the demand signal spikes, we have the ability to scale above that.

The beauty of this vehicle is that there’s a lot as a significant amount of commonality, which does allow us to scale, and also gives us economies of scale, price, etc.

Meet the “Wolf Pack”

TWZ: Where are you now with testing?

Brad Reeves: We’ve flown over 50 times in test events with the military. So we’ve done multiple services. We’ve done formal testing with those services. It’s been launched twice off the AH-1Z. We’ve launched off fixed-wing UAS, but this gets a little sensitive with the customers, as to what those platforms are. And we’ve done ground launch.

TWZ: Do you have a pathway toward testing on the Black Hawk and Apache?

Brad Reeves: I am very passionate about making sure this gets fielded to U.S. Army soldiers, specifically the Apache and the Black Hawk. Right now, we’ve obviously got Epic Fury. But if something lights off in the Pacific, this just pales in comparison. If I were young enough to be flying in that fight, I would want more capability. And so I am a little bit of a zealot. The U.S. Army, I know, has to have this capability, and I believe they want it. It’s going to be a game-changer for them, and it’s going to be important to the joint force and coalition forces. It is a significant transformational capability.

Jamie Hunter contributed to this story.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

U.S. Army officials say the modular design of the service’s new MV-75A Cheyenne II tiltrotor will make it easier to reconfigure baseline versions for the medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) mission. This also means that the aircraft can be readily restored to a configuration optimized for the air assaults. The Army currently operates HH-60 Black Hawk MEDEVAC helicopters purpose-built for this role. The service says the Cheyenne II will give commanders in the field important new flexibility, as well as help streamline the acquisition and fielding of the tiltrotors.

Army officials have touted the MV-75’s modularity in the context of the MEDEVAC role, also commonly referred to as the “dustoff” mission, on several occasions this week at the Army Aviation Association of America’s (AAAA) 2026 Warfighting Summit. TWZ has been in attendance at the conference, which wraps up today.

The Army plans to supplant a significant portion of its existing H-60 Black Hawk helicopters with MV-75s in the coming years. A subset of the service’s current Black Hawk fleet consists of the aforementioned HH-60 variants outfitted for the MEDEVAC role. Standard UH-60 transports can also be used to retrieve casualties, but are not equipped with the same array of specialized features found on the “dustoff” variants, which you can read more about here.

There are also plans for a special operations-specific configuration of the Cheyenne II, which TWZ has already explored separately.

The “MV-75, as I mentioned, that’s our signature system. Unmatched range. Unmatched speed. Unmatched mission flexibility,” Army Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, the Program Acquisition Executive for Maneuver Air, told attendees at AAAA on Wednesday. “We’re going to build a modular aircraft that we can use for multiple purposes. So it’s going to have a capability that we can put a MEDEVAC ‘plug’ into it, and generate medical capability for the warfighter.”

With MV-75, “we’re no longer going to have a purpose-built [MEDEVAC] variant. It’s going to be what we like to call a configuration. No longer is ‘tail number 25’ coming off the product line going to be the special operations variant, or the medical evacuation variant,” Army Maj. Thomas Barth further explained during a panel discussion at AAAA yesterday. “You can input what that is via the A kit, and then a B kit – for MEDEVAC, that being the patient handling system, the sensor, and the hoist.”

Barth is leading the integration of MEDEVAC capabilities onto the Cheyenne II and has personal experience as a “dustoff” helicopter pilot.

It should be noted that Army officials separately said at AAAA this week that they expect all MV-75s to be equipped with a hoist.

At the panel discussion, Barth did not elaborate on the “sensor” that will be included in the MEDEVAC configuration. However, existing Army HH-60s do have a sensor turret under their noses that contains electro-optical and infrared video cameras. This is something not found on the service’s standard UH-60s. Bell, the MV-75’s prime contractor, also released a computer-generated video this week, seen below, which depicts a MEDEVAC version of the Cheyenne II with a sensor turret under the nose. Depictions, at least so far, of the baseline MV-75 configuration do not include this sensor turret.

Meet the Cheyenne II

“Being able to have that capability from the beginning of the platform is going to be great. And I really look at modularity from a tactical perspective for MEDEVAC,” Barth added. “Let’s say I have to provide MEDEVAC, and I have an aircraft or a patient handling system that goes down, but I have an aircraft that has a perfectly good patient handling system in it, but that aircraft’s in maintenance. I can now modularly reconfigure my fleet internally to be able to meet the needs of the commander.”

The MV-75 will also offer a massive leap in capability over existing HH-60s, just on account of its increased speed and range. Those attributes have always been among the most attractive elements of the aircraft, and especially so for the MEDEVAC mission. The time it takes to get casualties, especially ones with very serious injuries, to higher levels of care can easily mean the difference between life and death. Medical professionals regularly use the term “golden hour,” which refers to the first 60 minutes after a serious injury occurs, where the chances of saving that person’s life or otherwise preventing serious permanent damage are highest.

Army officials see the added operational flexibility that the Cheyenne II offers going beyond just the MEDEVAC mission.

“Providing flexibility for the warfighter, and really for the commander, is the most important to us. So the aircraft is modular from birth,” Army Col. Jeffrey Poquette, who is managing the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program under which the MV-75 is being developed, also said, while speaking alongside Barth at AAAA. “The commander can maybe take a day to say we need more MEDEVAC aircraft, or we need more assault aircraft.”

“We’re going to let our land component commanders tell us how much of that [MEDEVAC capacity] they need so they’ve got options,” Maj. Gen. Gill had also said on Wednesday. “Maybe in a defense [sic], they want to maximize MEDEVAC capability, put all the plugs in, go heavy MEDEVAC. If not, if they can strip that out, [and] we’ve got more assault capability. So we’re pretty excited about that.”

All of this does raise personnel, training, and force structure questions, especially when it comes to the MEDEVAC role. The Army currently assigns HH-60s to dedicated air ambulance units. “Dustoff” crews specifically train for this mission set and have developed a relevant institutional knowledge base in the process. The Army has already been exploring how MEDEVAC tactics, techniques, and procedures will adapt to its new tiltrotors using surrogate test articles on the ground.

With the MV-75, “we’re delivering a platform that – it’s an a la carte menu of sorts, and there’s certainly some limitations there,” Army Col. Jacob Whiteside, who was also on the panel alongside Poquette and Barth, said yesterday. “That’s the conversation that we use freely and regularly to make sure that we deliver this flexibility to the warfighter, and that’s our job is to consistently advocate for that.”

Whiteside is currently the Director for Transformation and the Lessons Learned Manager at the Transformation and Integration Directorate within the Army’s Aviation Center of Excellence.

As Maj. Barth noted when talking about the A and B kits for the MV-75, the Army also sees the focus on modularity as offering advantages just for acquiring the aircraft in the first place by helping streamline the production line.

“Frankly, this is going to be a very expensive airplane that we’re going to buy, so we can’t have single-purpose aircraft,” Maj. Gen Gill had also said during his talk at AAAA. “So we’re thinking about how we incorporate modularity.”

Gill pointed out at that time that those discussions around modularity are already extending to other capabilities for the MV-75, including aerial refueling. That, in turn, might lead the service to acquire its own fleet of uncrewed tankers, as TWZ has previously reported.

The current estimated unit cost of the MV-75A in any configuration is unclear. We do know that Bell’s winning bid in the FLRAA competition was priced out at just over $8 billion, in total. This was roughly twice the price point for the competing bid from a team made up of Sikorsky and Boeing, which had submitted an advanced compound helicopter design, as you can read more about here.

There are questions now about the Army’s planned schedule for fielding the MV-75, as well as when the first flight of the aircraft will occur. The service has walked back from pronouncements made as recently as January that it would start delivering Cheyenne IIs to operational units next year. Those statements had reflected a larger effort to accelerate the program dramatically.

“It’s going to happen when it’s going to happen. So we are moving as fast as we can,” Army Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, the Program Acquisition Executive for Maneuver Air, had said. “If I was king, and I had all the money in the world and all the engineers, and there were no limits, we probably would be able to do it in a matter of months.”

Regardless of when the first operational aircraft arrive, the Army’s clear goal is to leverage the aircraft’s modular design to begin integrating the MEDEVAC capability into the fleet in short order thereafter.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The Army is accelerating procurement of 30x113mm XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) rounds for its fleet of AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. The move comes as the service is looking to enhance the aircraft’s burgeoning role as a counter-drone platform, something The War Zone has covered frequently. These shells, fired by the Apache’s chin-mounted M230 cannon, will add to its drone-killing arsenal, giving it a cheaper and more plentiful engagement option than some of the alternatives. You can read all about the XM1225 APEX round in our previous coverage here.

Seeing a growing need for these rounds, the Army went to Northrop Grumman, which makes them, and asked them to boost production, said Maj. Gen. Clair A. Gill, commander of the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He was speaking during the Army Aviation Association of America’s Army Aviation Warfighting Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, which TWZ was in attendance.

“We had had 600 rounds total,” Gill explained. “They produced 1,000 already this month and can produce another 1,000 and will ramp their rate up to probably five times that.”

The company could not immediately comment about this effort.

The specialized APEX ammunition works by detonating only when it is close to an object, then it explodes in a spray of shrapnel. This is critical to shooting down drones, which are small, independently moving targets. These rounds could also be used against surface targets like personnel, soft-skinned vehicles, and small boats, where they would provide unique area effects compared to the Apache’s standard impact-detonating, high-explosive ammunition.

Earlier this year, we reported that Apaches live-fire tested the ammo last December at the service’s sprawling Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) in southern Arizona. 

“The Apache Attack Helicopter AH-64 has reached a new milestone in battlefield capability with the successful live fire test” of the APEX ammunition, the Army said in a February news release. “In December 2025, the Apache demonstrated its first-ever air-to-air engagement using 30mm proximity ammunition against unmanned aircraft systems targets at various ranges, showcasing the precision, versatility, and lethality of this advanced ammunition.”

The Army added that the Apex cartridge “is designed to counter modern threats, including UAS, exposed personnel and small boats, without requiring modifications to the Apache’s M230 Area Weapon System or fire control system.”

The M230LF Bushmaster Chain Gun | XM914

As we have pointed out in the past, these rounds require little additional training for Apache crews, because their ballistic properties are nearly identical to the M789 high-explosive dual-purpose (HEDP) rounds already fielded, which use an impact/grazing fuze to command detonation.

An additional benefit is that self-destructing proximity fuzed rounds mitigate some of the dangers of attacking drones with ammunition that will keep traveling for long distances if it doesn’t hit a target. This is a frequent occurrence with standard high-explosive or incendiary cannon rounds.

While the Israeli Air Force pioneered the counter-drone role for the AH-64 for years, the U.S. Army has formally codified it and added new capabilities in the process. A five-fold boost in procurement is a strong indication that the Army sees the value of the APEX rounds for these missions.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com.

The U.S. Army is considering configuring at least a portion of its new MV-75A Cheyenne II tiltrotors to be able to refuel in flight using the probe-and-drogue method. This, in turn, has raised the question of how the service will ensure there is adequate tanker capacity to support that capability. Army officials and the MV-75A’s prime contractor, Bell, have both now pointed to a future where tanker drones like the U.S. Navy’s forthcoming MQ-25 Stingray could help extend the Cheyenne II’s reach.

Army Maj. Gen. Clair Gill discussed aerial refueling capability for the MV-75A, as well as other aspects of the Cheyenne II, during a talk yesterday at the Army Aviation Association of America’s (AAAA) 2026 Warfighting Summit, at which TWZ is in attendance. Gill is currently the service’s Program Acquisition Executive for Maneuver Air. The Army plans to replace a substantial portion of its H-60 Black Hawk helicopters with the MV-75A in the coming years.

“Our last chief used to talk to me all the time about aerial refueling. We think that’s something. Maybe we don’t get all of them [the MV-75As] configured for that, but they’ll have the capability,” the Army’s top aviation acquisition officer added. “For industry, I want you to think about how are we going to refuel ourselves, right? One of the challenges, even the Regiment will tell you, and make it top priority – their challenge isn’t you know how good they are on par, their challenge is getting somebody to give them the gas.”

The “Regiment” that Gill refers to here is the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), also commonly known as the Night Stalkers. The 160th is expecting to eventually receive a special operations-specific configuration of the MV-75, which will include in-flight refueling capability by default, as you can read more about here. Existing Night Stalker MH-60M Black Hawk and MH-47G Chinook special operations helicopters also have the ability to refuel in flight via probe-and-drogue. However, Army Black Hawks and Chinooks assigned to conventional units do not have this capability.

“The Navy’s got some pretty good unmanned ideas there if you want to kind of follow where we’re going,” Gill noted yesterday.

Gill did not specifically name Boeing’s MQ-25, but this is the only uncrewed tanker the Navy is currently pursuing, at least that we know about. Furthermore, Bell released a new computer-generated MV-75 promotional video yesterday around the AAAA conference, seen below, wherein a Cheyenne II is clearly depicted linking up with a Stingray, or an extremely similar-looking variant or derivative thereof.

Meet the Cheyenne II

The MQ-25 is in development now primarily as a carrier-based platform, but there is no reason why it could not also operate from bases on land. Boeing has itself previously presented a concept for an enlarged, land-based derivative of the design that could help meet future U.S. Air Force tanking needs.

The MQ-25 by itself promised to offer very long endurance and extreme range, which could make it attractive in the land-based role, as well as when operating from carriers. TWZ has previously explored how those capabilities open the door to the Stingray being utilized as much more than a tanker, as well.

Currently, the U.S. Air Force provides probe-and-drogue aerial refueling capacity using KC-135 and KC-46 tankers, as well as HC-130J Combat King II combat search and rescue aircraft and MC-130J Commando II special operations tanker/transports. The U.S. Marine Corps and Navy also have C-130 variants that can be employed as tankers, as well as transports. Navy carrier air wings currently rely on F/A-18F Super Hornet fighters carrying buddy refueling stores and drop tanks to provide organic aerial refueling support.

Shortfalls in aerial refueling capacity, even to meet peacetime demands, have been an increasingly concerning issue for years now. The Air Force just recently developed a system that allows A-10 Warthog attack jets to refuel via probe-and-drogue to create new operational flexibility for those aircraft, as you can read more about here. The A-10 was originally designed to refuel in flight using the boom method, which the Air Force prefers for fixed-wing aircraft.

On top of all this, the Army has no organic tanker capacity at present, at all. Furthermore, the formal division of roles and missions with the Air Force means that the service does not operate fleets of larger fixed-wing aircraft like the C-130 that could be readily adapted to this role. All of this would point to an uncrewed platform like MQ-25 as the most viable path to establishing an Army tanker force, which could also align better with its expeditionary air assault concepts of operations.

Army MV-75As could still make use of other tankers during joint operations, as well. There could be other organic air refueling options available to the service, too, including the possibility of adapting MV-75 itself to act as a buddy tanker.

The Army is separately advancing plans to acquire fleets of uncrewed aircraft capable of performing a variety of missions in close collaboration with the MV-75A and its existing fleets of crewed helicopters.

For the Army, demands for greater range and ability that cover those distances faster were key factors in the decision to acquire the MV-75A in the first place. The service sees these capabilities as particularly critical in the context of any future fight against China across the sprawling expanses of the Pacific.

“MV-75, as I mentioned, that’s our signature system,” Gen. Gill said yesterday. “Unmatched range, unmatched speed, unmatched mission flexibility.”

During a separate talk at the AAAA conference yesterday, Army Maj. Gen. David Gardner, head of the 101st Airborne Division, the service’s premier air assault formation, also highlighted a recent training exercise that included Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors. He said that was done specifically “to help our Division understand the operational reach that it will possess with the MV-75 Cheyenne.”

Units within the 101st are set to be the first to receive operational MV-75As, with or without aerial refueling capability. The Army had previously said that fielding would begin next year as part of a major acceleration of the program. However, it has now stepped back from any fixed timeline for the first flight of the Cheyenne, let alone when Bell will begin delivering production examples.

“It’s going to happen when it’s going to happen. So we are moving as fast as we can,” Gen. Gill told TWZ and other outlets ahead of the AAAA conference this week. “If I was king, and I had all the money in the world and all the engineers, and there were no limits, we probably would be able to do it in a matter of months.”

As an aside, integrating aerial refueling capability onto the MV-75A, and working to pair it with tanker drones like MQ-25, could make the Cheyenne II, or variants thereof, attractive to other potential operators. The Marine Corps is now early in the process of refining requirements for a successor to the MV-22. The Navy has also said it is leveraging work the Army has done on the MV-75A to inform its plans for a Future Vertical Lift-Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) family of systems to succeed its MH-60R and MH-60S Seahawks, as well as the MQ-8C Fire Scout drone helicopter. Bell has presented concepts for variations of its V-280 Valor tiltrotor, on which the MV-75A is based, optimized for supporting amphibious assault and other naval missions in the past.

As it stands now, the Army does not appear to have made a final decision on the extent to which it expects to integrate in-flight refueling capability in its future MV-75A fleet. That will have a direct impact on any pursuit of an organic tanker capability.

Still, the Army and Bell are already pointing to the MQ-25 as an example of what could be on the horizon to help further extend the reach of the Cheyenne II.

UPDATE: 5:08 PM EDT –

Maj. Gen. Clair Gill has now offered some additional comments on aerial refueling support for the MV-75A to TWZ and other outlets at a roundtable today on the sidelines of the AAAA conference.

“We’re also thinking creatively about if we put aerial refueling – which you’re gonna see on the SOCOM [U.S. Special Operations Command] variants – if we put that on a conventional variant, then how do we refuel it?” he explained. “So we’re thinking through, do we need to develop a requirement for aerial refueling for ourselves now that we have really enhanced our capability?”

“One of the things that our special operations aviators – one of their most challenging tasks is helicopter aerial refueling. A lot of times people say, you’re telling me the challenge is the training of that, because it’s a pretty hard task,” he added later on in response to a direct follow-up question on this topic from our Jamie Hunter, who also called attention to what was seen in Bell’s video. “And I would say yes, but it’s actually the asset, the availability [of the] asset, to do the training. And we don’t have those organic to the Army. So I think we need to solve our own problems, and think about how do we do our own, let’s call it logistical resupply in the air, of an MV-75. So that’s where that concept photo or video was pointing.”

“We don’t have a requirement written right now, but I’ve talked with Army leaders,” Gill also noted.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

AeroVironment has unveiled a new entrant in the rapidly evolving launched effects space, introducing the Mayhem 10 system as a further evolution of its combat-proven Switchblade family. While pitching Mayhem 10 toward U.S. Army requirements, the manufacturer anticipates considerable demand and has already started to develop a production line that will be able to push out as many as 2,000 examples of the vehicle annually. The price of a Mayhem 10 has not been disclosed.

Revealed yesterday at the Army Aviation Association of America’s Army Aviation Warfighting Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, the Mayhem 10 is intended to equip air, ground, and maritime platforms and to be capable of being rapidly deployed and reconfigured in the field.

Mayhem 10 Launched Effects | One System. Multiple Effects.

At its core, Mayhem 10 is an autonomous launched effects system with a heavy focus on modularity. Its payload architecture allows operators to swap between lethal and non-lethal configurations depending on mission needs. That includes intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), electronic warfare, communications relay, deception/decoy, and precision strike roles. As such, commanders can rely on a single platform that can pivot as conditions evolve.

According to company leadership, the focus is on compressing the sensor-to-shooter timeline while reducing risk to personnel and high-value assets. “Mayhem 10 sets a new standard for operational versatility and survivability on the modern battlefield,” said Wahid Nawabi, AeroVironment’s chairman, president, and CEO, emphasizing its ability to operate effectively even in heavily contested environments.

The system draws heavily on the lineage of AeroVironment’s Switchblade family, but is intended to push beyond traditional loitering munitions in terms of scale and flexibility. The Mayhem 10 name reflects the fact that it can carry a payload of up to 10 pounds. It has a range of roughly 62 miles and can remain airborne for up to 50 minutes. Notably, it is designed for rapid deployment, with assembly and launch said to be achievable in under five minutes.

Speaking to TWZ at the summit, Austin Johnson, AeroVironment’s business development director for U.S. Army programs, stressed that, while Mayhem is an evolution of Switchblade, “it’s not a Switchblade.”

A video showing the Switchblade 600 loitering munition being used in combat in Ukraine:

Ukraine’s Best Weapon? The Switchblade 600

“Mayhem is not just leave-the-tube, find-the-armor, kill-the-armor, kill-the-enemy. Mayhem is any mission, anywhere, anytime. So right now, we launch out of a Common Launch Tube. We can air and ground launch,” Johnson added.

Physically, the system incorporates a removable forward section — seen in the video embedded below — to speed up integration of new payloads. More than eight different payloads have been integrated so far, Johnson said. Its launcher is self-contained and adaptable, so it can be used by dismounted troops as well as from vehicles, aircraft, and other mobile platforms. In terms of aircraft, the same promotional video shows the Mayhem 10 being launched from tubes carried on the stub wings of an H-60 Black Hawk series helicopter.

Another difference with Switchblade is Mayhem 10’s use of rocket-assisted takeoff, rather than using a gas generator. This reflects the Army’s pivot toward rocket-assisted launch, the company told us.

Kevin Williams, the chief engineer for Mayhem, told TWZ another way in which Mayhem 10 differs from Switchblade.

“Mayhem 10 is highly optimized; this is purpose-built for the launched effects mission, as opposed to a Switchblade, which is very much purpose-built for a singular anti-tank, anti-armor mission,” Williams explained. “Modularity is at its very core.”

Thanks to its modular open systems approach (MOSA), Mayhem 10 can receive upgrades and have third-party payloads integrated without major redesign.

“The modularity is really the main point here,” Johnson said. “We held a payload conference about a year and a half ago. We brought multiple vendors in, from across the spectrum, with different payloads. We shared our ICD, our interface control document, and then they came back. We wanted to make this as open architecture as we could for the Army, and it shares a lot of that same open architecture design that we’ve already incorporated with our P550,” — AeroVironment’s autonomous Group 2 eVTOL uncrewed air system, which is already in service.

A video showing the AeroVironment P550 UAS:

AeroVironment’s P550 eVTOL: Rapid Deployment and Enhanced Situational Awareness

Among the payload options, Johnson brought attention to one that “effectively can act as a HARM missile, meaning that we can identify, detect, and kill an emitter.”

Williams described one real-life scenario in which the company ran a hackathon to prove the payload modularity. The result was payload designers getting access to the interface control model, which can even be done via QR code, to get a full understanding of electrical, mechanical, and data interfaces. In at least one instance, the resulting payload was then physically integrated within 90 minutes of the supplier showing up at the AeroVironment facility.

Meanwhile, operators interface with the system through AeroVironment’s Tomahawk Grip and the AV_Halo Command environment, which are optimized for networked and distributed operations.

Perhaps most significantly, the AV_Halo Command architecture allows Mayhem 10 to operate in collaborative swarms. By networking multiple systems together, units can expand coverage, saturate defenses, and execute coordinated effects across a wide area. Brian Young, the company’s senior vice president for loitering munitions, framed this as a shift in how combat power is generated, scaling effects without concentrating forces or increasing platform risk.

The @USArmy @usarmyrccto has selected Kinesis – part of our AV_Halo Command open, modular software ecosystem – as the lead command and control software for the Human-Machine Integrated Formations (HMIF) program. Kinesis will give warfighters a unified interface to field and… pic.twitter.com/04wxsGlPHJ

— AV (@aerovironment) October 20, 2025

“We can complete multiple missions in one swarm,” Johnson continued. “They can communicate with each other and complete it. They can jam the enemy with EW payloads. We have multiple kinetic payloads, so we can run a full mission profile with multiple Mayhems.”

On the autonomy side, Mayhem 10 leverages an AI-driven processor, which the manufacturer says ensures operations in denied or degraded environments. It is designed to have resilience against jamming, spoofing, and loss of traditional navigation signals. Secure positioning and communications are enabled through M-Code GPS and a Silvus datalink, while a MANET-based mesh network provides command-and-control connectivity at ranges of roughly 16-25 miles.

At this point, AeroVironment has conducted over 50 internally funded flight tests with Mayhem 10. These have included live ordnance, EW, and Link relay flight tests, with various payloads.

“We’re approaching TRL 8 [Technology Readiness Level 8, meaning it has been tested and flight qualified] with this system this summer and entering low-rate initial production later this year,” Williams explained.

Considering that the Army is yet to place a contract, that might seem like jumping the gun, but AeroVironment says they wanted to go fast, to have a reliable product ready for when the service started to look to buy them.

“We’re entering the competitions,” Williams said. “We wanted to go fast, reliably, though. We didn’t want to come in and have a lesser product. We’re delivering a weapon system, not an experimental system.”

Currently, the company is mainly using Mayhem 10 to target the U.S. Army’s Launched Effects-Short Range (LE-SR) program, but stresses that this is part of a new family of products, so additional variants will likely appear in the future.

Should the Army choose Mayhem 10, the company has already made preparations to ramp up production. While low-rate initial production is being handled at a production line in Simi Valley, California, the company is establishing a new manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. This will have the capacity to scale production up to between 1,000 and 2,000 units annually.

Taken together, Mayhem 10 reflects a clear trajectory in modern warfare: smaller, smarter, and more networked systems that can be fielded quickly, easily adapted, and employed in large numbers to overwhelm an adversary. At the same time, it is entering the market that is fast becoming saturated with similar products, and there will be no shortage of rivals for future Army orders.

Jamie Hunter contributed to this story.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

The Army’s top official pointed to low-cost interceptor drones first sent to Ukraine as one defense against Iranian barrages of Shahed-136 one-way attack munitions. During Congressional testimony on Thursday, Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll lauded the Merops interceptor and the process to get it quickly into the hands of troops in the Middle East.

The Merops is a small, relatively inexpensive drone built specifically to zip through the skies and intercept long-range one-way attack drones. As we have previously reported, Ukraine has been using several locally produced drones, as well as Merops, to counter Russian Shaheds successfully for some time now, proving-out the concept.

“When the conflict kicked off, within about eight days, we were able to purchase…13,000 Merops, which are incredible,” Driscoll exclaimed. “They’re about $15,000 a piece right now. We think as they scale, they’ll get less than [$10,000] and we’re able to take Shaheds down that cost $30,000 to $50,000, which is amazing because that puts us on the right end of the cost curve, and we will make that trade all day long.”

The U.S. has its own interceptors that have been in service for years, such as Raytheon’s Coyote, but they cost roughly 10 times more.

A new system to identify and take down Russian drones is deployed to NATO’s eastern flank

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Driscoll said that larger orders could drive that to $3,000 to $5,000 per interceptor. Given the success in Ukraine, it is likely that the Pentagon and other customers would see far less risk when it comes to ordering large numbers.

As we noted in a story last month, the Pentagon sent thousands of these drone interceptors to the Middle East. Iranian strikes on U.S. military facilities killed U.S. troops and caused damage to bases and equipment. Driscoll did not offer more specifics about how often they were used, how many Shaheds they downed or exactly where they were deployed.

Merops was “developed as part of the US-backed Project Eagle initiative, which includes contributions from Swift Beat, a company associated with former Google CEO Eric Schmidt,” according to the Ukraine Defense Tech Community (DTC), a marketplace for modern weaponry. “The system is built around Surveyor drones, which act as airborne interceptors capable of destroying enemy UAVs mid-flight.”

Each Merops unit “includes a command station, launch platforms, and a fleet of Surveyor drones,” DTC explained. “These interceptors can operate autonomously or be remotely piloted and are equipped with onboard sensors for target tracking.”

While full technical specifications remain undisclosed, they can reportedly reach speeds of over 280 km/h (175 mph). “The platform is considered fast enough to intercept jet-powered drones such as the Russian Geran-3, which can exceed 300 km/h,” DTC pointed out.

The interceptor can carry an explosive warhead and destroys targets either through a direct collision or a proximity detonation.

Driscoll said the ability to field Merops so quickly is because the Army streamlined its acquisition process.

“Fundamentally, one of the core problems was our own bureaucracy, our own infrastructure, our own decision-making organizations had decayed from any sort of speed and rationality,” he testified. “The reason we’ve been able to move fast since the conflict in Iran started is because of work 10, 12, 14 months ago to reorganize our acquisitions department.”

“And practically,” he added, “what that did is it took us from a 16-step decision-making process – where each of the bodies along those 16 steps could veto it and start it back over, and it could take two to seven years to purchase something.”

“We put everybody into a group who could make decisions on the fly,” the secretary noted. “And so a lot of the things the Army has worked on in the previous year are paying dividends as we try to make decisions quickly.”

You can watch Driscoll’s testimony on Merops at the 36-minute mark of the video below.

Budget Hearing – The United States Army

In Ukraine, Merops has proven to be a far cheaper alternative to munitions like Patriot interceptors and even far less advanced missiles for downing Shahed drones which have caused widespread destruction across that country. While these drones have neither the payload nor range of the far more expensive Patriot munitions, they can be deployed in great numbers giving them the ability to cover larger geographical areas. That helps keep the magazine depth of more sophisticated effectors from being quickly depleted and turns the disastrous ‘exchange ratio’ between cost of target versus effector on its head. In many cases, these systems would still need to be part of a layered defense, especially when used as point defense at high value installations and infrastructure.

Now that these weapons have helped save American lives and equipment, Merops success means we will likely be seeing more low-cost drone interceptors like it in the future.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

With orders for the twin-rotor helicopter still rolling in, Boeing has provided details on its future plans for the venerable H-47 Chinook, including adding launched effects and creating a path toward a crewed version of the aircraft. The latter would offer an unprecedented vertical-lift capability, and one that could be of great interest to the U.S. Army and other operators.

At the Army Aviation Association of America’s Army Aviation Warfighting Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, today, Boeing released a computer-generated promotional video showing launched effects being delivered from the rear ramp of a Chinook.

Launched effects, previously referred to as air-launched effects (ALEs), describe a category of various uncrewed systems that you can read more about here. The new launched effects terminology reflects the fact that they might be launched from land or maritime platforms, as well as crewed and uncrewed aircraft. Launched effects drones include types that operate as scouts, electronic attackers, decoys, and suicide drones. They are typically highly autonomous, operating independently or in more complex networked swarms.

When it comes to the Chinook, Boeing confirms that launched effects are yet to be tested from the helicopter, but the company is working toward that goal.

Kathleen Jolivette, the vice president and general manager for Boeing’s Vertical Lift division, said today that the company is investing its own funds in the initiative and is currently looking at how rapidly it might be able to move into the demonstration phase, based on expected U.S. Army and international interest.

It’s worth noting, meanwhile, that Boeing and the Army are already pushing ahead on launched effects demonstrations from the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, including recently announced trials with Anduril’s ALTIUS-700 Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) launched from an AH-64E. The Army says that this program progressed from a requirement to a live demonstration in less than six months.

With its capacious hold, the Chinook would be able to accommodate huge numbers of launched effects, allowing multiple missions to be fulfilled over an extended period, especially when compared with other helicopters that typically launch these drones from externally mounted tubes.

The Chinook would also be much better able to handle larger launched effects. In the past, the Army has issued descriptions of ‘large’ drones in this category. These are envisaged as having a combat range of up to 350 kilometers (217 miles) and a total flight time of 30 minutes. However, there has also been an aspiration to increase those performance specifications to up to 650 kilometers (404 miles) and an hour of total time in the air. These would weigh up to 225 pounds each, compared to around 25 pounds for an ALTIUS-600, for example.

There is a possibility that Chinooks, specifically special operations MH-47Gs, are already using some kind of launched effects. As we discussed at the time, there is strong evidence that the U.S. military may have used kamikaze drones during the operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro earlier this year. Whatever the case, launched effects are increasingly key to the survival of rotary-wing aviation going forward.

As well as launched effects, Boeing is pushing ahead with work on what it calls an optimally crewed Chinook, reflecting U.S. Army terminology. As far as we understand it, the terms optimally crewed and optionally crewed appear to be interchangeable, although the former could also include reduced-crew flying with the help of an AI copilot. Boeing also pushed us toward an Army press release for the H-60Mx Black Hawk helicopter, described as an optimally piloted vehicle and extensively modified to fly with or without a pilot at the controls.

Heather McBryan, the vice president and H-47 program manager at Boeing, said the company is now “working very closely” with the Army in terms of what additional capability it wants to add to future Block II production lots.

According to McBryan, the Army “publicly stated their desire for what they’re calling an optimally crewed aircraft, where they can, in some instances, reduce the workload for pilots, but in other instances, eliminate it completely, and we’ve made a lot of great progress in those efforts.”

McBryan says that this work is also responding to demand from international customers.

As part of this effort, after years of development and post-production modifications, Boeing recently added its Active Parallel Actuator Subsystem (APAS) to the Chinook production line. A hardware and software system, McBryan describes APAS as working “like lane-assist in your vehicle.”

Tested on the special-missions MH-47G for some years now, APAS reduces pilot workload, but also provides additional situational awareness and enables safer maneuvering, especially at the edges of the aircraft’s envelope. For now, APAS is mainly for the MH-47G and for the United Kingdom’s new Chinooks, but McBryan confirms that Boeing is looking at how to bring additional elements of autonomy into the CH-47F as well.

In February, for example, a CH-47F successively completed its first fully automated approach and landing test flight, something that Boeing calls “approach to x.”

This used the company’s upgraded Digital Automatic Flight Control System (DAFCS), the software ensuring the Chinook touched down all four wheels on a runway without any pilot intervention. While DAFCS is currently deployed on the CH-47F fleet, the upgraded version further reduces pilot workload and brings autonomy to tactical approaches, boosting flexibility and operational capability.

Right now, every Chinook coming off the production line has the basic DAFCS, while APAS essentially provides an enhancement, building on the same flight control system with a combination of hardware and software.

As Chris Speights, the chief engineer for Boeing Vertical Lift, explains, with APAS, “the parallel actuation system actually amplifies, provides a higher-bandwidth control mechanism for it that the software can then take advantage of. So we get more precise control and augmentation with APAS when you add it on top.”

Boeing CH-47F Block II Chinook Helicopter: Next-Level Heavy Lift

Speights added that Boeing is also looking at the future beyond APAS.

“APAS is the foundation, then there would be other capabilities, whether it’s algorithmic or whether it’s sensors or the integration of those that would give further autonomous capability in the future,” he said.

Potentially, this could lead to entirely autonomous Chinook flights, from takeoff to landing, for an optimally uncrewed or even a fully uncrewed Chinook.

Speights described the work on the upgraded DAFCS and APAS as “foundational,” should the company pursue an optimally crewed Chinook.

“That puts us on the path for the flight automation, not necessarily full autonomy, but flight automation, which starts today with pilot workload reduction, and approach to x,” Speights said. “But it enables further capabilities in the future, as the customer desires, based on their concept of how the aircraft would be used.”

It is worth noting that Sikorsky has been working on both optionally crewed and uncrewed versions of its H-60 Black Hawk series. Late last year, the company unveiled its U-Hawk demonstrator, a fully uncrewed version of the Black Hawk helicopter, intended to carry cargo and deliver launched effects. The U-Hawk leverages the company’s past work on a Pilot Optional Vehicle (OPV) version of the Black Hawk, which has been flying for years.

Introducing the S-70UAS™ U-Hawk™

For now, however, Jolivette said that Boeing is “gonna wait and see what happens” with the Army’s uncrewed/optimally crewed vision. “I think there’s more to come on that,” she added.

As well as APAS, Boeing is looking at how it can bring a digital backbone to the CH-47F. A digital backbone essentially provides a shared network of data and tools that connects both production design and sustainment. The result is that everyone who is working on the aircraft gets the same data points and the same information at the same time. In practice, this would mean adding multiple redundant networks and distributed interface units to ensure precise monitoring. With reliably collected data, the Chinook should be easier to upgrade, safer to operate, and quicker to fix.

The Chinook remains very much in demand, meanwhile.

The latest budget request includes funding for additional MH-47G aircraft. In terms of CH-47F Block II, Boeing is ramping up production to meet the Army’s rapid-fielding ambitions. Six Block IIs were delivered last year, and Boeing received a contract award for nine more in September 2025, with another six orders since then, for a total of 24 under contract. McBryan confirmed that, as of today, three aircraft are in production, with two of those in final assembly.

“We expect to deliver one of those aircraft towards the end of this year,” McBryan said. The total U.S. Army Block II requirement is still to be determined.

In terms of international orders, the first deliveries for new orders from Egypt, South Korea, and the United Kingdom are expected this year. Production of the first German CH-47F is also underway, with expected delivery in 2027.

Although it was first flown back in 1961, the Chinook appears to have a bright future ahead of it. With Boeing now focused on new capabilities, we may very well see Chinooks delivering launched effects and operating in uncrewed versions before too long.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

The U.S. Army has given us our first glimpse at what the new MV-75A Cheyenne II tiltrotor will look like in its special operations configuration. The baseline MV-75A already has features specifically intended to simplify the process of converting it to meet the needs of the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, better known as the Night Stalkers.

Army Col. Roger Waleski, commander of the 160th, shared the rendering of the special operations-specific MV-75 during a presentation today at the Army Aviation Association of America’s (AAAA) 2026 Warfighting Summit, at which TWZ is in attendance. Earlier in the day, the Army had announced that Cheyenne II would be the tiltrotor’s official nickname. Service officials had also provided an update on the program to TWZ and other outlets ahead of the show, as you can read more about in our separate reporting here.

The baseline MV-75A is still in development, and it is unclear when it might fly for the first time. The Army has said in the past that it plans to replace roughly half of the 160th’s special operations MH-60M Black Hawk helicopters with MV-75s, but it is not clear if that is still the case.

From what is seen in the rendering that Col. Waleski showed at AAAA, the special operations variant of Cheyenne II will differ from the baseline type most in the configuration of its nose end. Like the 160th’s Black Hawks, its version of the MV-75A will feature a nose-mounted radar and sensor turret underneath, as well as an in-flight refueling probe that extends out from the right side.

The radar is likely to be the AN/APQ-187 Silent Knight, or SKR, a terrain-following/terrain avoidance (TF/TA) type. SKR is increasingly the default for U.S. special operations aircraft, including Army MH-60M and MH-47G Chinook helicopters, as well as Air Force CV-22 Osprey tiltrotors and MC-130J Commando II special operations tanker/transports.

The rendering of the special operations MV-75 also shows what looks to be a fixed, forward-facing aperture on the nose to the left of the radar. This most likely reflects the inclusion of a Degraded Visual Environment Pilotage System (DVEPS) or a similar capability, as is found on the 160th’s MH-60s and MH-47s today. DVEPS uses cameras and LIDAR, together with a terrain database, to help crew navigate through ‘degraded’ environments. full of dust, sand, snow, fog, and other obscurants.

TF/TA radar and DVEPS, together with other sensors and in-flight refueling capability, will enable long-range operations along extremely low altitude nap-of-the-earth flight profiles, even in poor weather and at night. Challenging long-duration flights in unforgiving environments is at the very core of the Night Stalkers’ repertoire.

The rendering shows the special operations version of the Cheyenne II is festooned with an array of other antennas, as well as additional ‘bits and bumps,’ just like the 160th’s helicopters are today. A similarly extensive suite of countermeasures and other defensive systems as is found on MH-60M is not visible in the rendering. It is very possible these features were deliberately omitted for operational security reasons. We can still expect the Night Stalker’s MV-75 to be crammed with special operation-specific self-protection systems, communications gear, and more.

Past Bell renderings have also given hints as to armament, sensors, countermeasures, and communication capabilities that will be found on the baseline variant, as can be seen below. It is possible that some non-special operations versions could be capable of refueling in flight, as well.

Beyond any special operations-specific capabilities, the MV-75 will also offer the 160th a major boost in range and speed compared to the MH-60M.

“I’ve said this before, I’m exceptionally excited about this platform,” Col. Waleski said today. “Yes, I’m excited about the speed. Yes, I’m excited about the payload, and I’m excited about the range.”

“But, really, the things that I find very interesting about this aircraft is [sic] the fact that we’ve gone to a completely modular open system architecture, maintaining the data rights on the aircraft,” he added. “For the warfighters in the room, what that means is your ability to adapt in the warfighting environment, it’s going to be cheaper, it’s going to be quicker.”

Modular open-architecture systems approaches focus heavily on the ability to more rapidly integrate new and improved capabilities and functionality down the line, often with minimal changes to existing hardware. As noted, the Army has taken steps already to ease the process of converting baseline MV-75As into the special operations configuration, which Waleski also highlighted today.

“There is a tremendous amount of growth potential for the warfighter as this aircraft becomes fielded here in the near future,” Waleski said.

When the Army will begin fielding the baseline version of the MV-75A is now murky. In January, the service told TWZ that it was working to accelerate the program dramatically, with a goal of the first examples reaching operational units next year. The original timeline had expected to reach that milestone in 2031.

However, speaking to TWZ and other outlets last year, Army officials declined to commit to a firm timeline for a first flight for the MV-75A, let alone reaching the start of fielding.

“It’s going to happen when it’s going to happen. So we are moving as fast as we can,” Army Maj. Gen. Clair Gill, the Program Acquisition Executive for Maneuver Air, had said. “If I was king, and I had all the money in the world and all the engineers, and there were no limits, we probably would be able to do it in a matter of months.” 

The Army does remain committed to the MV-75A, which the service sees as offering essential new capabilities, especially in the context of a future high-end fight against China across the sprawling expanses of the Pacific. Waleski’s comments today make clear that the Army special operations aviation community is still very eager to get its version of the Cheyenne II, as well.

In the meantime, we have now finally gotten a look at what is set to be the next major addition, at least publicly, to the Night Stalker’s fleets.

Jamie Hunter contributed to this story.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

The Cold War-era Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne might have been plagued with issues, but there’s no doubt it was among the world’s most advanced helicopters of its day. The AH-56 was so fast, and its features so ahead of their time, that the U.S. Army has decided to port over its name for its highly anticipated MV-75 tiltrotor, now officially named the Cheyenne II. The name also continues the Army’s tradition of naming its helicopters after great Native American tribes, and will find its place among icons like the Apache, Chinook, and Lakota.

In 2022, the Army picked a design from Bell, based on that company’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor, as the winner of its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition. In January of this year, the Army confirmed to TWZ that it planned to accelerate its timeline for the MV-75 by multiple years, fielding the first examples in 2027 versus 2031.

The rollout took place today at the Army Aviation Association of America’s Army Aviation Warfighting Summit in Nashville, Tennessee. Speaking to journalists, including TWZ, before that event, Maj. Gen. Clair A. Gill, the commanding general of the Army Aviation Center and Portfolio Acquisition Executive — Expanded Maneuver Air, announced the MV-75’s rollout as “a pivotal moment for Army Aviation, for our soldiers.”

In keeping with other Army rotorcraft, the MV-75’s name also honors a Native American tribe (more accurately, two tribes), the Cheyenne.

As Maj. Gen. Gill explained: This name reflects more than heritage. It reflects identity. The Cheyenne people inhabited the Great Plains for 400 years, adapting to a harsh and unforgiving environment as highly proficient hunters and gatherers. Their way of life required constant mobility, organized around nomadic buffalo hunting, enabling them to assemble, disassemble, and move quickly to meet the demands of their environment. In many aspects, that same ability to rapidly organize, reposition, and operate with precision is reflected in the MV-75 platform.”

“Life in that environment demanded resilience and strength,” Gill continued. “Tribes navigated rivalries, dirt, conflict, and adapted as Westward expansion reshaped the landscape around them. Today, the Cheyenne are represented by the Northern Cheyenne tribe in Montana, in the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes in Oklahoma, whose legacy reflects the proud and enduring warrior tradition, ground and protection, provision and leadership. Those values demand capability, and in today’s fight, that capability comes in the form of speed, range, lethality, and adaptability. That spirit of mobility, resilience, and disciplined strength is what the name Cheyenne II represents.”

As for the other, historical Cheyenne, the AH-56, this was a first-generation attack helicopter drafted during the Vietnam War. Most impressively for the time, the helicopter could hit a 224-mile-per-hour cruise speed and dash at speeds up to 240 miles per hour, driven by a nearly 4,000-horsepower turbine engine and a pusher propeller on the tail boom.

F 03873 US Army Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne multi weapon attack Helicopter

While it boasted incredible performance and was packed full of advanced features, the AH-56 was destined for failure. A combination of technical issues, program management shortfalls, changing procurement priorities, high cost, and a fatal crash in 1969 saw the program terminated. But despite never entering service, the Cheyenne left a profound impact on the concept of close air support and attack helicopter design and today holds a special place in military aviation history.

On the other hand, there are plenty of obvious differences between the AH-56 and the MV-75, not least their missions. They also had different prime contractors, and, the Army must hope, will have very different outcomes.

Maj. Gen. Gill continued: “What the [AH-56] Cheyenne was when it was initially conceived in the 1960s was a transformational leap ahead in technology. It was a rotorcraft when we were still learning how helicopters flew and how we could get the maximum utility, speed, and range out of them. And the Cheyenne, at the time that it was developed, was completely different. It had a pusher prop on it that allowed it to achieve speeds that we hadn’t seen before. You could draw a lot of parallels between going from the current fleet of rotorcraft that we fly, that is really 1960s, 1970s-era technology … to what we’re doing with the tiltrotor technology. Twice as far, twice as fast, vertical takeoff and landing, but flying at airplane speeds. You can certainly draw the metaphor there if you want, between the AH-56 back in the late 1960s and the MV-75 today.”

Continuing on the transformational theme, Brent G. Ingraham, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, provided his assessment of the MV-75, describing it as “a generational capability for the Army,” and one that “truly fundamentally changes how commanders think about distance, time, and maneuver on the battlefield.”

Ingraham continued: “It combines the vertical lift of a helicopter with the speed and range of an airplane, allowing us to project combat power from safer distances, penetrate deeper into contested environments, and deliver soldiers where they are needed most, faster than we ever have before.”

For the soldier, this means “restoring full-squad insertion at extended range, expanding medevac reach well beyond today’s Golden Hour, enabling large-scale, long-range air assault operations that can reshape the battlefield,” Ingraham added. Just as critically, the Cheyenne II will be able to self-deploy globally, reducing cost, complexity, and response time in a crisis. This is also especially relevant for future operations in the Indo-Pacific region, where operating locations and objectives are likely to be dispersed across large areas with limited options for making intermediate stops.

Ingraham also noted another key aspect of the program, namely the incredibly aggressive schedule to get it into service. Claiming the program as an “acquisition success story,” he described the team moving “with urgency while maintaining discipline.”

The MV-75 is designed around a modular, open-systems approach, with a digital backbone that should make it easier to adapt and upgrade as the program evolves.

“That means we can rapidly integrate new technologies, adapt to emerging threats, and avoid the costly redesigns of the past,” Ingraham said.

Ingraham confirmed that the fielding timeline is being accelerated, which means the first Cheyenne II unit should be equipped in Fiscal Year 2030. Exactly how realistic that ambition is is something that we will discuss in a follow-on story.

As Ingraham said, speed matters, not just in the air, but in acquisition as well.

“We did it through strong partnerships across industry, the requirements community, and our operational units like the 101st [The 101st Airborne Division, the Army’s premier air assault unit, and the first unit set to get MV-75s], ensuring this platform is not just technologically advanced, but operationally relevant from day one. Simply put, the MV-75 Cheyenne II is how we deliver capability at the speed of relevance.”

For a rotary-wing program that puts a lot of emphasis on speed, its new Cheyenne II name is especially appropriate. Let’s just hope its warp-speed development doesn’t end the same way as its partial namesake.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com