A Pentagon programme to develop and field a new generation of fast and agile vertical-lift aircraft under the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) initiative is closer to becoming a reality as the US Army's USD350 million Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) jump-start of the effort is poised to showcase the latest in US vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) capabilities in mid-2017. The army is circling back to its legacy as the lead service on the 1981 Joint-service Vertical take-off/landing Experimental (JVX) aircraft programme, which led to the development of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. After the army dropped the project in 1983, the US Navy (USN) took over and eventually fielded the US Department of Defense's (DoD's) first reliable highspeed VTOL solution to the US Marine Corps (USMC) and Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) in the 1990s. The iconic V-22 has allowed the marines and air force special operators to land in austere environments and travel to these landing sites faster than they ever had before.
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