Future Vertical Lift (Maritime Strike)

Future Vertical Lift (Maritime Strike) under the Navy's Research, Development, Test & Evaluation budget activity aims to address warfighting gaps and replace aging rotary wing platforms with more capable, maintainable, and reliable crewed and uncrewed rotorcraft systems. This initiative is crucial for the Navy's Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) and will enhance capabilities in long-range Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Surface Warfare, Undersea Warfare, Air Warfare, Electronic Warfare, and other areas. The program's specific objectives include developing acquisition documentation to support a Milestone A decision and enabling Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) key activities. The budget allocation for FY 2024 will fund post-Analysis of Alternatives (AoA) activities such as analyses, studies, and production of acquisition documentation.

The Future Vertical Lift (Maritime Strike) project (PE 0604292N) focuses on the developmental activities required to replace the current inventory of Navy helicopters in the 2030+ timeframe. The program aims to define capability requirements, conduct Analysis of Alternatives (AoA), affordability studies, and develop acquisition documentation including Acquisition Strategy (AS), Life Cycle Cost Estimate (LCCE), Systems Engineering Plan (SEP), and Draft Capability Development Document (CDD). Additionally, it supports efforts to develop common systems reference and objective open architectures and prototype aircraft flight demonstrations during the FVL Technology Maturation and Risk Reduction (TMRR) acquisition phase. The FY 2024 budget will fund post-AoA follow-on activities including analyses, studies, system specification development, design trade studies, virtual simulations, conceptual design of various components, and support from government, industry partners, and academia.