Bell Textron V-280 VALOR Chosen For US Army FLRAA

Textron’s Bell V-280 VALOR chosen as the new US Army FLRAA (Long-Range Assault Aircraft) to replace the Black Hawk helicopter.

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Press Release, Providence RI, 05 December 2022: Textron Inc announced today that Bell Textron Inc., a Textron company, has been awarded the development contract for the US Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) programme. The award is based on Bell’s V-280 VALOR tiltrotor that was developed and tested as part of the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) programme that began in 2013. The V-280 progressed through design, manufacturing, and more than three years of rigorous flight testing that provided extensive data validating the technical and operational advantages of the aircraft for the long-range assault mission.

“We are honoured that the US Army has selected the Bell V-280 VALOR as its next-generation assault aircraft,” said Scott C. Donnelly, Textron’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We intend to honour that trust by building a truly remarkable and transformational weapon system to meet the Army’s mission requirements. We are excited to play an important role in the future of Army Aviation.”

“This is an exciting time for the US Army, Bell, and Team VALOR as we modernise the Army’s aviation capabilities for decades to come,” said Mitch Snyder, president and CEO of Bell. “Bell has a long history supporting Army Aviation and we are ready to equip Soldiers with the speed and range they need to compete and win using the most mature, reliable, and affordable high-performance long-range assault weapon system in the world.”

This award builds on a decade of the V-280 VALOR’s progress through design, manufacturing, and thorough testing to demonstrate that this aircraft will deliver on the FLRAA programme requirements. Bell and its industry partners have systematically validated the V-280 aircraft and their modular open systems approach in collaboration with the Army.

“For the past several years the Bell team demonstrated the exceptional operational capabilities, digital thread synergies, and platform affordability enhancements the V-280 provides,” said Keith Flail, executive vice president, Advanced Vertical Lift Systems at Bell. “Bell stands ready with our world-class manufacturing facilities to apply our nearly seven decades of tiltrotor expertise to deliver a modern FLRAA fleet to the Army.”

The initial contract refines the weapon system design, sustainment, digital enterprise, manufacturing, systems integration, flight-testing, and airworthiness qualification. This award builds on Bell’s history of more than 85 years delivering over 30,000 trusted vertical lift products to military and commercial customers in the US and around the world.

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US DoD Contract Notice, Arlington VA, 06 December 2022: Bell Textron Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $1,361,723,332 hybrid (cost, cost-plus-incentive-fee, firm-fixed price and fixed-price incentive) contract for development of the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft weapon system.

Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, with an estimated completion date of April 5, 2031. Fiscal 2022 and 2023 research, development, test and evaluation, Army funds in the amount of $232,208,330 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Dec. 5, 2022)

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