87 Members of Congress Praise the Army’s Transformative MV-75 Tiltrotor

The Army’s Transformation Initiative includes one very advanced aviation platform: the MV-75 Cheyenne II, a tiltrotor for air assault.

A letter from Sen. Jerry Moran and Rep. Ronny Jackson, addressed to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, praised the importance of the MV-75 as a critical modernization program and the Department’s sole investment in advanced vertical lift.  An impressive 87 Members of Congress from all across America, and across the aisle, signed the letter.

The MV-75 Cheyenne II is the first Army aviation program born with open systems architecture.  The program also has capitalized on the use of “military-grade” commercial technology.  For example, the MV-75 includes main power generators, drive shafts and couplings, smart air data sensors, aircrew seating, and ice detection and protection units from Collins Aerospace that have been proven in commercial aircraft applications.  Subsystems with a commercial vendor base can reduce maintenance costs over the long term.

Delivery of the first full MV-75 prototype is planned for late summer 2027.  “We have to make sure we execute this program with discipline,” Major General Clair Gill, the Army’s portfolio acquisition executive for maneuver air, said in August.

And as the letter points out, “the technological foundation of the MV-75 will directly inform future requirements for the Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy and Special Operations (SOCOM) communities.”   It’s easy to picture variants of the MV-75 adapted for the requirements of different services and missions. 

The Army has revived its much-praised “night court” process of program reviews to harvest savings.  A “night court” review in 2019 found more than $30 billion to apply to modernization priorities for future-year budgets.

MV-75 is fully funded, but ongoing budget deliberations could compel a reprogramming of funds to keep MV-75 on track.  Textron CEO Lisa Atherton committed to company self-funding for some activities to keep the MV-75 on schedule as the budget is sorted out. 

Read the letter here.