Around 2030, 2,000 Black Hawk utility helicopters and 1,200 Apache attack helicopters will be replaced by the up to $1.3 billion deal for the next-generation helicopter. The FLRAA won't replace current aircraft one for one, but it will take over the functions of the Black Hawk and Apache, which have long been the Army's mainstays for transporting troops to and around the battlefield.
The service wants FLRAA to be nimble enough to maneuver troops into risky hot spots and be able to travel approximately 2,440 nautical miles (or 2,810 miles) without refueling.
The low-rate production phase, which includes engineering and manufacturing development, could be worth about $7 billion. According to Maj. Gen. Rob Barrie, the Army's program executive officer for aviation, during a media roundtable on December 5, if the "full complement" of aircraft is purchased over the course of the fleet's existence, the program could be worth in the neighborhood of $70 billion, including potential foreign military sales.
The Army plans to develop and field a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft nearly along the same timeline to perform the scout mission, complicating its efforts to modernize vertical lift. When the Army decided to retire its Kiowa Warrior helicopters in 2013, that position became vacant. Since then, teams of Apache helicopters and Shadow unmanned aircraft systems have filled that gap on behalf of the Army.
The deal is significant for the service because the Army hasn't purchased two large helicopters since the 1980s and numerous previous attempts to purchase additional helicopters over the past several decades have failed. For instance, in 2004, after investing about $7 billion in its development, the service canceled the Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program.
In the FLRAA competition, two aircraft went head-to-head: the tiltrotor Bell V-280 Valor and the coaxial rotor Defiant X from Sikorsky and Boeing. Both of the aircraft was made to fit within the same space as a Black Hawk.
According to Barrie, who spoke to Defense News earlier this year, "This is the largest and most complex competitive procurement we have executed in the Army in the history of Army aviation." It goes without saying that we want to make sure everything is done correctly and in a disciplined manner because that system will be with us for a very long time.
Scott Donnelly, the CEO of Textron, said in a statement on December 5 that the company is "honored" that the U.S. Army has chosen the Bell V-280 Valor as its next-generation assault aircraft. By creating a truly remarkable and revolutionary weapon system to fulfill the Army's mission requirements, we intend to uphold that trust.
One of the most anticipated Army awards for 2022 was the decision, which was anticipated earlier this year. Service acquisition chief Doug Bush stated to Defense News in October that the award would be made in the following weeks but added that it would depend on certain circumstances.
Major procurement initiatives are frequently the target of protests, which puts pressure on the military to make awards "protest-proof."
Bush advised the source-selection board in charge of this undertaking to proceed with extreme caution and planning.
The source-selection board goes through a process, he explained, not only to choose the sources but also—and this is crucial—to kind of audit themselves and have others audit them to ensure that it was done correctly. It does take some time, but we want to ensure that we do this correctly and get the best results for the Army.
After the Army announced its decision to award Bell the contract, Sikorsky and Boeing released a statement in which they expressed their continued confidence that the DEFIANT X is the game-changing aircraft the U.S. Army needs to carry out its complex missions both now and in the future. We'll review the Army's feedback before deciding on our next course of action.
For several years, the FLRAA demonstrator aircraft flew numerous test missions. Following two phases of competitive development and risk-reduction efforts, they first flew in what the Army referred to as a Joint Multi-Role, or JMR, technology demonstration.
While Valor's first flight took place as planned in December 2017, Sikorsky and Boeing's anticipated first flight was delayed by more than a year due to a number of problems.
First, at Sikorsky's test flight facility in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Raider aircraft, essentially a scaled-down version of the Defiant the company built and flew, crashed in the first few days of August 2017. In order to continue its internal test program to improve its X2 coaxial helicopter technology for both the FLRAA program and the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft effort, Sikorsky was left with just one Raider aircraft.
Then, because of manufacturing difficulties, the company had trouble producing Defiant's rotor blades, which resulted in a delay.
The team had hoped to take to the skies by the end of 2018, but a number of problems that engineers found while operating the powertrain systems test bed forced them to halt testing. In March 2019, Defiant finally took to the skies for the first time.
The Army kept Valor and Defiant flying through two additional phases of a competitive demonstration and risk-reduction effort after the JMR demonstration phase ended, concluding that last year.
The V-280 flew more than 214 hours, demonstrated low-speed agility and long-range cruise capabilities, and could cruise at a maximum speed of 305 knots before Bell retired the Valor flight demonstrator in June 2021.
According to a statement from the company, five Army experimental test pilots have flown 15 sorties with the V-280. Bell updated design plans in response to input from Army mechanics, pilots, and infantry squads.
According to Sikorsky, the Defiant flew for a total of 63.9 hours, reached a top speed of 247 knots, and showed agility at treetop height at speeds greater than 200 knots. The aircraft also tested banked turns of more than 60 degrees, showed off confined area landing techniques, and lifted an external rocket storage pod weighing 5,300 pounds. Additionally, several U.S. Army experimental test pilots flew the aircraft.
By 2025, Bell FLRAA prototypes should be in service. If options beyond the initial contract are exercised, the obligation under the initial contract, which is $232 million, could increase to $1.3 billion.
According to Barrie, the first phase enables the Army to carry out preliminary design before moving on to the design, development, and delivery of virtual prototypes.
The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FLRAA) is anticipated to join the fleet in 2030, roughly at the same time as the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft. Building the FARA is a competition between Bell and Lockheed Martin.
Around 2030, the service intends to deploy FLRAA and FARA. By the end of 2023, the two teams creating the prototypes hope to have them airborne. As they wait for the delivery of the new engine for the Army under the Improved Turbine Engine Program, each team's aircraft is almost finished. After a pandemic-related delay, the ITEP engines started their testing phase prior to delivery earlier this year.
Due to additional supply chain and technical issues, the Army recently announced that it would push back the delivery of the ITEP engines for the aircraft from the end of 2022 to the spring of 2023.
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