Grounded Dreams: The Rise and Fall of the Army's FARA Program

The Army has once again pumped billions of dollars into a reconnaissance helicopter program, only to cancel it before maturity.

(It was the right decision, and I’ll get to that in a minute, along with the opportunities this presents.)

The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program was initiated in 2018 to fill Army Aviation's number one capability gap: armed reconnaissance. The last dedicated platform for this mission was the venerable OH-58 Kiowa helicopter, which was retired from US Army service about a decade ago.

I was personally very partial to the Kiowa; I always found it to be one of the most reliable aircraft and bravest pilots during my time in Afghanistan. One time, when I couldn't get medevac for wounded soldiers, a Kiowa pilot landed during a firefight, loaded two of my soldiers onto the helicopters skids, and evacuated them to a safe area. It left an indelible print in my mind about the absolute heroism of the crew.

I always felt a little bit better on missio…