Karem Aircraft’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Competitive Prototype bid received a big boost with the addition of Raytheon and Northrop Grumman to its team.
FARA is the US Army’s proposed new armed scout aircraft, a replacement for its retired fleet of OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters.
Rendering of Karem Aircraft's FARA concept | Karem Aircraft
Karem Aircraft has proposed a tiltrotor concept for FARA and is touting its proprietary variable speed rotor technology. The Southern California company is founded by Abraham Karem, who invented the GNAT 750 unmanned air vehicle, which evolved into the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1 Predator.
The company says its expertise will be boosted by Northrop Grumman’s manned and autonomous military aircraft development, system integration, production and support expertise. Northrop Grumman manufactures unmanned air vehicles including the MQ-8 Fire Scout, RQ-4 Global Hawk and optionally manned Firebird. It also makes the fuselage for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
Karem adds that it will also be aided by Raytheon’s systems architecture, mission equipment, and weapons capabilities. Raytheon makes a number of avionics, communications and sensor products, as well as munitions such as the Talon laser-guided rocket, which is certified for use on the Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.