The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) project was announced six years ago by the United States Army to produce a reconnaissance aircraft to replace the Bell OH-58 Kiowa. The Kiowa has been in use since the Vietnam war and appears to be very old. After two helicopters were selected to undergo the testing process, today the United States military abruptly canceled the FARA project.
The decision was taken after taking into account current financial factors and focusing on pilotless aircraft such as drones that can perform similar tasks. This also makes the Bell Textron 360 Invictus and Sikorsky Raider X helicopters will not be produced. The military will also invest more in existing helicopters to meet mission needs.
One of the capabilities that FARA helicopters must have is spying on the battlefield without being detected easily. The more compact design allows it to perform missions in urban areas and intersperse between buildings.
The conflict in Ukraine shows that a small drone that costs only thousands of ringgit can do the same job as a helicopter that costs millions of ringgit. It is more difficult for the enemy to detect, almost impossible to shoot down and operates much more quietly than current helicopters