How the Development Assurance Value-Based Acquisition (DAVBA) Approach Could Have Saved the Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Program

The Primary Author has been involved in Army Aviation Development and Acquisition since the Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS), Advanced Attack Helicopter (AAH), Army Helicopter Improvement Program (AHIP), and Light Helicopter Experimental (LHX) Programs in the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. The first three of these programs successfully made it to production aircraft, while the LHX became the RAH-66 Comanche and was canceled primarily due to technical problems and cost overruns. The initiation of the next phase by the Army Aviation Development (ADD) Directorate for Future Vertical Lift (FVL) did not occur until the beginning of the 2015-2000 timeframe. This was 35 years since the last Army Aviation Development in 1980. To help sustain this FVL development, the Primary Author led, oversaw, and helped conduct a program through the National Rotorcraft Technology Center (NRTC) in the 2015-2016 timeframe. It was called the Development Assurance Value-Based Acquisition (DAVBA) Program1. It included the following team members: Georgia Tech, University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH), Dassault Systèmes, and Clausewitz Technology. The Army ADD plan funded it for FY2015- 2016 through the NRTC. The objectives were to provide the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Program with a Development Assurance for Airworthiness Qualification and a Value-Based Acquisition Overall Evaluation Criterion (OEC) for FARA and FLRAA concepts.. However, Army Aviation only funded the first phase in 2015, as FVL funds were then transferred to the new Army Futures Command. This paper will illustrate how DAVBA could have saved the Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft Program (FARA) Program as well as providing a more cost effective Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) Program.