U.S. Army MV-75 Future Aircraft Enters Production Readiness in FY26 as Medical Evacuation Advances.

The U.S. Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program transitions toward production readiness in Fiscal Year 2026, completing critical design milestones while expanding prototype testing and manufacturing planning. The shift solidifies the MV-75’s role as a foundational aviation platform, shaping the Army's air assault, logistics, and medical evacuation missions for decades.

The U.S. Army’s MV-75 Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program reaches a defining moment in Fiscal Year 2026 as it moves from intensive prototyping into production readiness, according to budget and program planning documents. Funding in FY26 supports completion of the aircraft’s Critical Design Review, continued prototype assembly and flight testing, early production planning, and refinement of its digital open-systems architecture, while also initiating development of a fully integrated MEDEVAC variant to ensure the MV-75 is adaptable across combat and lifesaving missions from its earliest fielding.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

Bell Textron's V-280 Valor, developed under the JMR-TD Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator program, was selected by the U.S. Army on December 5, 2022, as the basis for the MV-75, its next-generation assault aircraft. (Picture source: Bell Textron)

The MV-75 is the U.S. Army’s next-generation medium-lift assault aircraft, intended to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk as the workhorse of air assault and utility operations. Based on Bell Textron’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor demonstrator, the aircraft was officially renamed MV-75 in mid-2023 following its selection in the FLRAA competition. The “MV” prefix designates its multi-mission role, while “75” aligns with new fleet numbering conventions. Unlike conventional helicopters, the MV-75’s tiltrotor configuration allows it to hover, take off vertically, and then transition to fixed-wing speeds in forward flight, giving it twice the range and speed of legacy platforms.

The FLRAA program is a core pillar of the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) initiative, launched in 2012 to replace Cold War-era helicopters with aircraft designed for multi-domain and high-threat environments. The first step in this transformation was the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) program, initiated in 2013 to reduce technical risk ahead of full-scale acquisition. Under JMR-TD, the U.S. Army funded two competing demonstrators: Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor and the Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant coaxial compound helicopter. Bell’s V-280 conducted its first flight on December 18, 2017, and continued testing through 2021. Both aircraft completed extensive flight testing, digital modeling, and mission simulation, which informed the Army’s formal FLRAA requirements.

Following JMR-TD, the U.S. Army launched the FLRAA program of record in 2019 under Army Futures Command. The competitive phase began with conceptual design reviews and digital prototyping. Final proposals were submitted in March 2022, and after a thorough evaluation, the U.S. Army announced on December 5, 2022, that Bell Textron had been selected as the FLRAA winner. The decision was based not only on platform performance but also on cost, digital maturity, manufacturing readiness, and sustainment potential.

The initial contract award was valued at $1.3 billion and covered the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase. This includes final aircraft design, digital engineering, construction of prototype airframes, and early flight test planning. The contract was structured with additional options that extend into prototype builds, low-rate initial production, and eventual full-rate production. The program's total projected lifecycle value exceeds $70 billion, including procurement, sustainment, logistics, training infrastructure, and future technology insertion. According to Army and defense industry officials, exercising early options could increase near-term obligations well beyond the initial award.

Since the EMD contract award in December 2022, the MV-75 program has progressed through structured acquisition phases under the supervision of the U.S. Army’s Program Executive Office for Aviation. Key milestones have included the System Requirements Review (Q1 2023), Preliminary Design Review (Q2 2023), component and subsystem qualification (late 2023 through 2024), and the start of prototype airframe construction in 2025. The Critical Design Review (CDR) is scheduled for completion in Q3 2026, finalizing the aircraft’s design baseline and enabling transition to Milestone C and low-rate production.

In July 2023, the U.S. Army formally accepted the first virtual prototype of the MV-75 from Bell Textron, marking a major digital engineering milestone in the FLRAA program. This acceptance confirmed that the aircraft’s full digital twin met Army performance and integration requirements, allowing the service to begin virtual testing of maintenance procedures, subsystem behavior, and mission scenarios well before physical flight testing. According to Army officials, the successful delivery of the virtual prototype helps de-risk the production schedule and supports the goal of achieving first unit equipped (FUE) status by 2030, with low-rate production expected to begin before the end of the current decade.

FY26 funding supports continued construction and testing of prototype aircraft numbered 1 through 8. These aircraft are central to both the developmental test program and the Limited User Test phase, where U.S. Army aviators, maintainers, and operational units evaluate performance, reliability, maintainability, and mission effectiveness under realistic conditions. Unlike early demonstrators, these prototypes reflect near-production standards and incorporate mission systems, avionics, flight control software, and survivability equipment representative of what will be fielded to operational units.

Technically, the MV-75 represents a generational leap in battlefield reach and responsiveness. It is capable of cruising at over 280 knots (518 km/h) with a combat radius exceeding 800 nautical miles (1,480 km), far surpassing the UH-60 Black Hawk’s 150 knots (278 km/h) and approximately 370 km range. It can transport 12 fully equipped troops and supports rapid ingress and egress through side doors and a rear loading ramp. Its digital fly-by-wire flight controls reduce pilot workload and enhance stability in degraded visual and high-threat environments. Survivability features include electronic warfare systems, infrared signature reduction, and armored protection for critical components.

At the heart of the MV-75’s adaptability is its Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA). FY26 investments focus on validating this digital backbone through live aircraft testing and high-fidelity simulation. MOSA allows the U.S. Army to integrate future weapons, sensors, communications systems, and software upgrades without major airframe redesign, ensuring long-term relevance against evolving threats.

A major development milestone in FY26 is the initiation of the MV-75’s dedicated MEDEVAC mission equipment package. Unlike legacy aircraft, where medical evacuation capability was added later, the MV-75 MEDEVAC variant is being engineered in parallel with the assault version. It will feature a modular interior for multiple stretcher patients, advanced onboard life-support systems, secure telemetry for patient monitoring, and the ability to conduct long-range casualty evacuation missions exceeding 1,400 km (870 miles). This capability significantly enhances the U.S. Army’s ability to evacuate wounded personnel from dispersed or contested battlefields.

Behind the testing and development effort, FY26 also marks the start of formal production planning. Funding supports supplier qualification, acquisition of long-lead materials, tooling development, and digital twin modeling of production lines across Bell Textron’s industrial base. These efforts reduce manufacturing risk and support the Army’s objective of achieving Milestone C and entering low-rate initial production before the end of the decade.

Compared to the current UH-60 Black Hawk fleet, the MV-75 offers significant tactical advantages across nearly every mission metric. It flies nearly twice as fast, covers more than double the range, and can operate at greater altitudes and in more extreme weather conditions. These performance gains allow U.S. Army commanders to execute deep air assaults without forward refueling points, conduct rapid intra-theater troop transport, and support joint-force maneuver across distributed battlefields. The tiltrotor design also reduces exposure to enemy anti-air threats by minimizing time in hover and maximizing transit speed. This agility directly enhances survivability, especially in contested airspace.

The estimated unit procurement cost for the MV-75 in full-rate production is projected to range from $43 million to $50 million per aircraft, depending on final configuration, sensors, and the variant mission package. While this is higher than the approximate $20 million unit cost of a UH-60M, Army officials argue that the MV-75 delivers greater operational reach, lower sustainment burdens through digital diagnostics, and reduced fleet requirements due to its superior speed and payload.

Tactically, the MV-75 offers a fundamental shift in how the U.S. Army conducts air assault, maneuver, and medical evacuation operations. Its speed and range enable deep operations without reliance on forward arming and refueling points, reducing vulnerability in contested environments. In the Indo-Pacific, it supports long-range maneuver across dispersed island chains. In Europe, it enables rapid reinforcement and distributed operations under constant threat. Its digital architecture also supports future integration with unmanned systems, ISR payloads, and joint command-and-control networks.

Although official flight-test data remains limited, internal U.S. Army assessments indicate that the MV-75 is meeting or exceeding key performance parameters. Program officials have highlighted gains in digital integration, mission flexibility, and survivability, with early operational concepts already being adapted to exploit the aircraft’s capabilities.

The MV-75 is no longer a conceptual future platform. It is a combat-focused, digitally engineered aircraft advancing steadily toward production. Fiscal Year 2026 marks a defining moment for the FLRAA program, as years of experimentation and competition give way to execution, positioning the MV-75 as the centerpiece of U.S. Army aviation for the next generation.

Written by Alain Servaes – Chief Editor, Army Recognition Group
Alain Servaes is a former infantry non-commissioned officer and the founder of Army Recognition. With over 20 years in defense journalism, he provides expert analysis on military equipment, NATO operations, and the global defense industry.