Flight International - 04

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Crown Copyright
NATO spins up
next-gen rotorcraft programme
Group of alliance members drive forward initiative to
define future medium-class helicopter for coming decades
Dominic Perry London
Prototypes of a next-generation
helicopter destined for
NATO forces could be flying
around 2030 if plans currently
being touted by the alliance
come to fruition.
A group of NATO nations –
France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the
Netherlands and the UK, plus Canada,
which will join this year – are
driving a project called Next Generation
Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC)
with the intention of fielding a new
medium-class helicopter by 2035.
Currently in its early stages, a
programme management office
was set up in late 2022, run by the
NATO Support and Procurement
Agency (NSPA), which is managing
the concept stage.
Work has now begun in earnest
to launch the five concept studies
that will shape the NGRC’s design.
As part of that process, contracts
will be awarded following competitive
tenders to “one to three”
contractors who will “answer this
conceptual review by proposing
a possible design for NGRC”, says
Cyril Heckel, NGRC programme
manager at the NSPA.
Those designs, potentially with
options, alongside a “rough order
of magnitude of through-life costs”
are expected to be delivered in
2025, he says.
Although the steps required to
move NGRC from a concept to
a development programme are
still to be discussed, Heckel sees
a potential need for technology
demonstrators to form part of that
development effort.
“It will be my recommendation
for the possible development
stage that we have some prototyping
activities,” he said, speaking
on the sidelines of Defence
IQ’s International Military Helicopter
(IMH) conference in London on
22 February.
Given the uncertainties around
NGRC’s schedule and future steps,
Heckel says he cannot confirm
when any such prototypes might
fly, but concedes this is likely to
happen “around 2030”.
Collective agreement
Launching a full development programme
would require further
political agreement from the participating
countries, with issues
such as design, workshare, and the
possible admission of other NATO
members still to be addressed.
So far, detailed requirements for
NGRC have not been set. Instead,
a list of “attributes” was released
in May 2021, including capacity for
12-16 fully equipped troops, unrefuelled
range of 900nm (1,650km)
and a spectrum of cruise speeds:
“optimally” this would be 220kt
(408km/h) or above, but must be
“not less than 180kt”.
Speed may be the most contentious
of these attributes among the
current member nations. Delegates
at the IMH event were told that
future rotorcraft for the Italian air
force would need to travel at 250kt,
while French army aviation would
maintain its doctrine of nap-of-theearth
flights at around 100kt.
“We don’t see that high speed
is an advantage. It is a problem of
compromise – we cannot have it all.
That is why we do not place high
speed as our top priority,” says an
official familiar with the French
army’s thinking.
Heckel says the issue “remains
open” and through the concept review
phase high speed “is one of
the attributes we want to explore,
to test, and to see what is feasible”.
The impact of speed on the concept
of operations (ConOps) being
developed as part of NGRC’s first
phase will also be evaluated, says
Heckel, and could lead to further
“evolution” of either the desired
attributes or the ConOps itself, depending
on where priorities lie.
According to the list of attributes,
NGRC should address multiple
missions, across multiple domains,
with a single airframe and a modular
approach.
Heckel says this remains the
programme’s intention: “For the
concept stage it’s good to keep in
mind that we should target only
one common airframe and to push
for this modularity for NGRC.”
However, two variants could
emerge “if we have a quantified
justification” that this is the “best
solution to tackle the entire spectrum
of ConOps”.
Nonetheless, Heckel, mindful of
the lessons learned from the development
of the NH Industries NH90
– another NATO-led multi-national
programme – wants the NGRC project
to avoid a multiplicity of country-specific
variants which would
lead to issues around sustainment.
30 Flight International April 2023