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Bell and M1 advance to final phase of US Army Flight School Next as Lockheed falls out

The U.S. Army has advanced M1 Support Services and Bell to the demonstration/final phase of its Flight School Next competition, joining a third finalist as the service narrows bids to replace the Airbus UH-72A Lakota and overhaul basic rotary‑wing training with a new single‑engine turbine trainer fleet.

Discovered 2026-04-07T14:18:55.739902-07:00 | 2026-04-07T14:18:55.739902-07:00

Briefing

What Hype is tracking

The Army has cut the field to three finalists for Flight School Next, a program that will select a new single‑engine turbine trainer to replace the UH‑72A Lakota and reshape basic rotary‑wing instruction — a direct modernization of the current Lakota training pipeline (source:36443994-7bfe-452b-a6dd-a729e0f5fac3).
Bell and M1 moving into demonstrations changes competitive dynamics for production, sustainment and training delivery; Bell has already positioned a dedicated training site to support evaluations (source:5b0d8fe3-0bed-4667-9b2a-ab6aeb5547ce).
The elimination of Lockheed and other earlier bids underscores consolidation in the contest and confirms the Army is narrowing its industrial options after prior Phase III proposals (source:764bf963-0cea-49cf-858d-86fb1a49b3e0).

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