Future Military Helicopters: Technological Innovation and Lessons Learned from Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine highlighted the importance of helicopters in modern military operations, showing strengths and weaknesses of these assets in high-intensity scenarios. The preliminary lessons from the war come at a time in which most leading Western powers need to modernise their respective helicopters fleets, which until recently had experienced only limited technological leaps from the 1970s. Today, while the US is heavily invested in the Future Vertical Lift programme, European countries have shown a more cautious approach. Nevertheless, relevant EU and NATO collaborative projects show that there is widespread interest in the future of military helicopters. Italy, which is a leading country in the helicopter sector, finds itself at a crossroad and will need to carefully ponder its strategic options, both considering industrial and operational aspects inherent in the adoption of new rotorcraft technologies.
iai2319.pdf [3]-
Details
Rome, IAI, September 2023, 58 p. -
In:
Documenti IAI [2] -
Issue
23|19
1. Helicopters and war: Lessons learned from Ukraine, by Karolina Muti
1.1 Lessons to be learned from Ukraine: Helicopters survivability
1.2 Use of helicopters during the conflict: The case of Russia
1.3 Use of helicopters during the conflict: The case of Ukraine
1.4 The dilemmas on the future of next generation helicopters
1.5 What convergence among NATO allies?
2. United States, by Kevin Mangum
2.1 Evolution of the vertical lift requirements
2.2 Mission optimisation and tactical objectives
2.3 Transformational capabilities and industrial rationale
3. France, by Léo Péria-Peigné and Élie Tenenbaum
3.1 Doctrine and operational outlook
3.2 The 2030 horizon: A renewal in process
3.3 Beyond 2040
3.4 Conclusion
4. Germany, by Florian Schöne
4.1 Political-strategic rationale
4.2 The military rationale (including threat assessment)
4.3 Technological and industrial rationale
5. Italy, by Giancarlo La Rocca and Alessandro Marrone
5.1 Political-strategic rationale
5.2 Military rationale
5.3 Technological and industrial rationale
6. United Kingdom, by Justin Bronk
6.1 The strategic and military rationale
6.2 A British perspective on the war in Ukraine and military helicopters
6.3 The industrial outlook for rotary technologies
7. NATO and EU initiatives, by Michelangelo Freyrie
7.1 NATO and rotary wings aircraft
7.2 European Union projects
8. Conclusions, by Alessandro Marrone and Michele Nones
8.1 Operational and technological factors for a qualitative leap
8.2 The underpinning military rationale of the US
8.3 Europe’s cautious approach: France, Germany and the UK
8.4 The outlook for Italy: Five key elements
Acronyms