Lt. Gen. Mike Murray: Army’s Future Vertical Lift Chopper Would Be ‘Optionally Manned’

Lt. Gen. Mike Murray, deputy chief of staff for program development at the U.S. Army, has said he thinks the service branch’s future vertical lift program would be an “optionally manned” helicopter, Flight Global reported Friday.

Leigh Giangreco writes the Army leads the FVL program as a joint initiative with the U.S. Marine Corps and Air Force.

Murray noted that the military branch has no budget to concurrently fund the development of the FVL program as well as the Boeing-built AH-64 Apache helicopter and UH-60 aircraft from Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky subsidiary.

Murray’s statements come a month after Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, Marine Corps deputy commandant for aviation, said that the Marine Corps needs an optionally piloted aircraft for the FVL effort.

Giangreco reports that the FVL program will feature four various classes of helicopters that could be deployed by 2030s.