The Army’s existing training helicopter, the UH-72 Lakota, is expensive to operate—and not always beginner-friendly, resulting in a steep learning curve and potential safety implications.

The US Army has selected M1 Support Services to lead “Flight School Next,” a sweeping overhaul of how the service trains new helicopter pilots. Although the exact contours of the contract are yet to be finalized, it is likely to be massive—amounting to up to $10 billion over the next three decades, as the quantities of equipment and services involved have yet to be finalized. Far more than simply selling helicopters, M1 will provide the US Army with maintenance, simulators, academic instruction, flight instruction, and supporting infrastructure.

The contract marks a shift away from the sophisticated UH-72 Lakota currently used for initial helicopter pilot training towards the much simpler Robinson R66, which will allow new students to become better fundamental aviators on a simpler machine before progressing to more complicated helicopters.

How the UH-72 Lakota and the Robinson R66 Compare

Aircraft	UH-72 Lakota	Robinson R66
Manufacturer	Airbus Helicopters (formerly Eurocopter)	Robinson Helicopter Company
Year Introduced	2007	2010 (FAA certification)
Number Built	466	~1,500 (production ongoing)
Length	42 ft 9 in (13.03 m)	29 ft 6 in (9 m)
Rotor Diameter	36 ft 1 in (11 m)	33 ft (10 m)
Weight (MTOW)	7,904 lb (3,585 kg)	~2,700 lb (1,225 kg)
Engine(s)	Two Turbomeca Arriel 1E2 turboshaft engines	One Rolls-Royce RR300 turboshaft
Top Speed	167 mph (268 km/h)	130 mph (200 km/h)
Range	426 mi (685 km)	400 mi (650 km)
Service Ceiling	13,182 ft (4,018 m)	14,000 ft (4,300 m)
Loadout	Varies by mission; generally unarmed	Unarmed
Aircrew	1–2; can carry up to 9 passengers	1; can carry up to 4 passengers

What’s Wrong with the UH-72 Lakota?

The UH-72 Lakota, currently used for the Army’s initial flight training, is a capable twin-engine helicopter with sophisticated avionics and automation. This has made it an excellent and versatile operational aircraft, but it is unclear if it is the ideal vehicle for a gentle introduction to helicopter flying. In particular, the UH-72’s advanced automation can potentially allow inexperienced students to rely on the aircraft rather than mastering fundamental aircraft control, hovering, navigation and energy management. 

This concern has become more pronounced as Congress and the Army have begun to more closely scrutinize helicopter accidents and aviation safety in general. Only last week, a US Army AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed in Texas, killing both crewmembers, with pilot error as the suspected cause. 

Accordingly, the Army began looking for a very simple aircraft with which to help students to master the fundamentals of helicopter flight. The “Flight School Next” is the answer to that search: a way for students to learn the absolute basics first, like stick-and-rudder fundamentals, before getting to automation and mission complexity later.

M1 Wants to Simplify Flying for Pilots—and the US Army

M1’s winning proposal was centered upon the Robinson R66 Turbine, a five-seat light helicopter powered by a single Rolls-Royce RR300 turboshaft. This gives students experience managing a turbine helicopter without all of the complexity (and expenses) of a twin-engine military utility aircraft like the UH-72. When conducting the search, the Army’s requirements included a single turbine engine, counterclockwise-rotating main rotor, and IFR certification. The R66 meets the first two requirements, though its IFR-certification status for the program remains unclear. 

Flight School Next also introduces a contractor-owned, contractor-operated (COCO) model to the Army. In other words, rather than the Army buying the helicopters and assuming responsibility for their ongoing maintenance, M1 will own and operate the training system throughout its lifetime and charge the Army an ongoing fee for its use in training, akin to renting it out. This means that the responsibility for aircraft availability and maintenance and instruction is all outsourced to the contractor, simplifying the process for the Army.

The Army maintains control over the standards graduates must meet before moving on to frontline helicopters. The transition to the M1-led COCO model should take between three and four years. 

The economics and the logic of the decision are straightforward. Every hour spent teaching a student basic hovering in a sophisticated twin-engine helicopter consumes fuel, maintenance, and components life. A smaller, single-engine turbine helicopter can perform that introductory job at considerably lower cost than the existing Lakota.

Interestingly, civilian student pilots adhere to the same economics and logic; that’s why student helicopter pilots train on the R22 and student fixed wing pilots train on the Cessna 152. Those platforms are cheap and readily available, yet entirely sufficient for safely teaching the absolute basics. The Army now applies a similar philosophy to its next generation of aviators, who it hopes will graduate to the Black Hawk, Apache, and Chinook with stronger (and more cost-effective) fundamental flying skills. 

About the Author: Harrison Kass

Harrison Kass is a writer and attorney focused on national security, technology, and political culture. His work has appeared in Tablet, City Journal, The Hill, The Spectator, and The Cipher Brief. He holds a JD from the University of Oregon and a master’s in Global & Joint Program Studies from NYU. More at harrisonkass.com.

The post The US Army Is Switching Its Training Helicopter. Here’s Why. appeared first on The National Interest.