Boeing has moved a new unmanned tiltrotor into formal concept work to team up with U.S. Army helicopters on attack, reconnaissance, and contested logistics missions. Company engineers described a gas-turbine aircraft offering two tilting proprotors, modular payload bays, and autonomy for cooperative operations alongside AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook crews. The planemaker showed renderings and a scale model at the Association of the United States Army meeting in Washington in mid-October and briefed reporters on the effort in the days before the show. “It’ll be a tiltrotor with two proprotors” using a gas turbine, Boeing vertical lift chief engineer Chris Speights said during the briefing, adding the configuration offers the fastest route to fielding based on proven technology.
Boeing’s concept carries the internal name CxR, for Collaborative Transformational Rotorcraft. Engineers outlined two versions that share a common core. A combat variant, sometimes referenced as CCR, would act as a rotorcraft wingman to Apache formations carrying sensors, weapons, and launched effects. A logistics variant, identified in company materials as ClR, would move cargo or deliver light equipment in support of Chinook missions. Executives described a modular air vehicle offering swappable fuselage sections and mission kits tied to open-systems interfaces.
Officials called the effort early conceptual work. According to industry officials, the company is collecting Army feedback and running operational analysis to validate performance trades before any down-select of subsystems. Boeing is also aligning the work under the Army’s “family of systems” approach, which links manned and unmanned aircraft through common data, autonomy behaviors, and distributed sensors. Defense officials confirm the service wants a collaborative rotorcraft teammate on a short schedule, parallel to fixed-wing collaborative combat aircraft efforts.
Company drawings and briefing slides emphasize a compact airframe offering two large proprotors and a central wing, reminiscent in outline of the V-22 lineage but scaled to a heavy-UAS class. Boeing says the tiltrotor architecture brings higher dash speed and range than comparable helicopters during retaining low-speed handling for launch, recovery, and terrain masking. The profile fits deep reconnaissance and logistics into defended areas where hover time needs to stay short.
Performance Targets for Apache and Chinook Teaming
The concept operates in the Pentagon’s upper UAS bands. Boeing placed it in Group 4 or Group 5 by weight and altitude, categories that cover the largest military drones.
Performance targets shared during reporters point to a maximum gross weight in the 5,000–7,000-pound range, payload capacity between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds, and a top speed of roughly 200–250 knots. Those figures put the CxR concept well above Group 3 in mass and close to crewed utility helicopters in payload, during preserving a fixed-wing transit profile for time-sensitive tasking.
A tiltrotor under that envelope can stand off from threats yet sprint to rejoin a flight of Apaches or a Chinook section without slowing the formation. The volume also permits heavier sensors and future weapons kits. Company material and briefings highlighted compatibility during launched effects and electronic warfare packages, plus options for maritime strike payloads. The logistics build could handle containerized cargo, lightweight pallets, or small vehicles for forward units that lack secure landing zones.
Boeing and Army officials have not published a formal specification or a schedule. Executives avoided any firm date for flight hardware and kept details at the conceptual level. The Army’s current focus centers on teaming behaviors and payload utility rather than a rigid airframe prescription.
The timing matches the Army’s reshaped rotorcraft plan. The service canceled its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft in February 2024 and shifted resources toward uncrewed systems and digital upgrades for enduring fleets. Leaders framed the move as a response to rapid changes in reconnaissance and strike, where affordable drones and networked sensors have redrawn tactics. Apache now covers armed scout duties during the service accelerates unmanned teammates and launched effects.
Meanwhile the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft advances under its new mission nomenclature. The Army designated the Bell tiltrotor as MV-75 in May, set up virtual prototyping, and mapped early fielding to the 101st Airborne Division. Officials described a route to deliver prototype aircraft around fiscal 2027 during risk-reduction work continues. A Boeing rotorcraft wingman able to keep pace during MV-75’s range and speed would fill a clear formation need once the new assault aircraft moves into unit evaluation.
Army Unmanned Roadmap and Apache Upgrade Integration
The Army’s broader unmanned roadmap reinforces that trajectory. Service leaders have pushed for a rotorcraft analogue to collaborative combat aircraft, one that can share sensing, carry munitions, and act as a forward picket without exposing crews. According to industry sources, Boeing’s CxR work is being reviewed in that frame, in parallel during other vendors’ unmanned rotorcraft pitches. Events in Washington where Boeing showed its tiltrotor also featured demonstrations and updates on launched effects across short, medium, long, and ultra-long ranges, reflecting a push to fold expendable drones into aviation formations.
The Apache fleet’s upgrade route adds weight. Boeing has outlined future AH-64 enhancements including sensor fusion, Link 16, and the ability to deploy and control launched effects. A dedicated tiltrotor wingman offering the speed to keep up and the endurance to loiter beyond the forward line would create a cleaner division of labor. Crews could stay masked during the unmanned teammate extends the aperture, carries extra weapons, or acts as a decoy. Army planners have described that operational picture for the past two years.
Launched effects dominated a large slice of AUSA this year. The Army staged a major demonstration in early October and is planning an ultra-long-range trial next year, targeting beyond 1,000 miles. A tiltrotor carrier offers a stable, recoverable mothership for those systems. It can loft expendable scouts high and fast, then rejoin manned teams offering fresh payloads. The concept fits Apache and Chinook formations and scales to MV-75 air-assault packages that will operate over larger theaters.
V-22 Experience and Digital Engineering Approach
Boeing points to experience during tiltrotor control laws and transition handling. The V-22 community returned to flying after the 2023 grounding under added restrictions and new risk controls, and the joint program office now projects those constraints to remain until gearbox fixes arrive in 2026. Company engineers cited the value of that knowledge when discussing control modes from hover to wing-borne flight on a new unmanned platform. The autonomy stack must handle conversion, nacelle angle control, and envelope protection without crew inputs, across gusty hover, low-level ingress, and high-altitude dash.
Digital engineering and modularity featured across Boeing’s presentations. A common propulsion and flight-control core can host different fuselages and payload kits, which speeds changes without a full redesign. Open mission systems should let the Army slot in government-furnished sensors, radios, or EW packages as they mature. The shift aligns during the service move to rapid spiral updates rather than fixed baselines set years before fielding. It also leaves room for coalition configurations, since export partners often need different radios and electronic protection suites.
Classification as a Group 4 or Group 5 UAS carries effects for test and training. Those categories assume larger aircraft offering higher altitudes and speeds, shaping airspace management, ground handling, and control station setups. In Army service, a Group 4/5 tiltrotor would likely share elements of infrastructure during Gray Eagle units during drawing on helicopter regiments for launch and recovery skills. The definitions help frame safety cases for autonomous conversion and proprotor management through FAA and DoD processes.
Boeing declined to discuss schedules. Executives focused on maturing the concept during Army input and reusing proven elements where possible. Messaging from the company underscores a desire to move quickly without betting on unproven propulsion or exotic materials. A gas-turbine, twin-proprotor layout remains the conventional choice and aligns during the Army aim to push collaborative autonomy to units without waiting on a clean-sheet technology leap.
Competitive Field and Development Outlook
The competitive field around unmanned rotorcraft is crowded. Several firms have floated logistics drones, optionally piloted cargo platforms, and compound concepts that chase similar missions from different angles. Boeing’s proposal marks two distinctions: it is being shaped from the start for teamed operations during Apache, Chinook, and eventually MV-75, and it favors high dash speed plus helicopter agility at the ends to complement those crewed platforms.
Several constraints will shape outcomes. Power and thermal margins set by a single-engine architecture must support demanding payloads in hot-and-high conditions. Payload-range tradeoffs will decide whether the combat version can carry internal munitions or must rely on wing pylons for larger weapons. Electronic protection requirements will harden the aircraft and add weight, and any shipboard ambitions would trigger corrosion and blade-fold work. None of these look like showstoppers at this size, yet they will affect schedule and cost.
Boeing keeps pointing to experience during tiltrotors and Army support aircraft. The company builds Apache and Chinook today and has long supported the V-22 fleet. Lessons from that body of work feed this cycle, from transition handling to drivetrain margins and maintainability. On the Army side, leaders show more willingness to iterate in the field, accept modular blocks, and treat autonomy as a behavior that can upgrade over time.
Our analysis shows the concept fills a gap that opened when FARA ended and the service pivoted to scalable unmanned systems and launched effects. If Boeing turns CxR into a test article that proves conversion safety, robust control laws, and reliable autonomy around troops, the effort has a route into experimentation during combat brigades. Unit trials alongside Apache battalions would answer questions quickly, including hangar footprint, maintenance load, and how many air vehicles a flight lead can manage during fighting the aircraft they sit in.
REFERENCE SOURCES
- https://breakingdefense.com/2025/10/boeing-drawing-up-new-tiltrotor-helo-wingman/
- https://www.boeing.com/features/2025/10/–inside-boeing-s-just-unveiled-autonomous-tiltrotor-concept
- https://www.flightglobal.com/helicopters/boeing-reveals-collaborative-transformational-rotorcraft-family-of-autonomous-tiltrotors/164803.article
- https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/boeing-cxr-tiltrotor-drone-concept-ausa-2025
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- https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF12797
- https://www.army.mil/article/285828/army_designates_mv_75_as_mission_design_series_for_future_long_range_assault_aircraft
- https://www.defensenews.com/land/2025/10/13/army-scrutinizes-supply-chain-risks-to-deliver-mv-75-aircraft-by-2027/
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