Joint Heavy Lift; Riding the Wave of New Vertical Flight Technology

The US Army is concurrently reorganizing current force organizations to modular designs and continuing the development of the Future Combat System (FCS). Army Aviation is also transitioning to modular brigades while concurrently modernizing existing aircraft and seeking solutions to future force capability gaps. One Joint future force capability gap is the ability to conduct Vertical Mounted Maneuver (VMM) either from land or sea bases. VMM concepts bring non-linear and noncontiguous dimensions to the future battlespace but will require new technologies to turn future concepts into operational capabilities. One material solution being investigated is a Joint Heavy Lift (JHL) aircraft.