Cloaked & Stealthy: Next Gen U.S. Helicopters May Prove Elusive to Enemy Radar

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By Kris Osborn – Warrior Maven

(Washington D.C.) The Army’s new Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) will have its work cut out.

Among the many roles it will fulfill are, loitering over hostile areas facing enemy fire, speeding through mountainous terrain, and launching air-to-ground missiles from miles away. Additionally, the FARA is expected to be able to descend upon active combat “hot zones” and control attack drones from safer standoff ranges.

However, alongside these clearly known missions, what about the need to have sleek, elusive transport, recon and attack helicopters quietly operate near or even within enemy territory? Can helicopters be stealthy? Of course, there are a lot of details and nuances to this topic which, for understandable security reasons, are not likely to be available.

Yet at the same time, a cursory look at Bell and Lockheed-Sikorsky’s FARA offerings do seem to invite some interesting questions about radar signature management.

“We know how to hide in the radar clutter and we understand how that generates standoff and overmatch,” Brigadier General Walter Rugen, Director of the Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team, told TNI in an interview.