Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing filed the protest with GAO concerning the award of FLRAA contract to Bell V-280 Valor

Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing filed the protest with GAO concerning the award of FLRAA contract to Bell V-280 Valor

By Dario Leone
Dec 29 2022
Share this article

The Bell V-280 has beaten the Sikorsky Defiant X to the US Army’s FLRAA program.

Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing are challenging the US Army’s decision on the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) contract. As the prime contractor, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, filed the protest with the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The statement from the Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing Team says:

‘Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, filed a formal protest today asking the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the US Army’s decision on the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) contract.

‘Based on a thorough review of the information and feedback provided by the Army, Lockheed Martin Sikorsky, on behalf of Team Defiant, is challenging the FLRAA decision. The data and discussions lead us to believe the proposals were not consistently evaluated to deliver the best value in the interest of the Army, our Soldiers and American taxpayers. The critical importance of the FLRAA mission to the Army and our nation requires the most capable, affordable and lowest-risk solution. We remain confident Defiant X is the transformational aircraft the Army requires to accomplish its complex missions today and well into the future.’

As already reported, the Bell V-280 has beaten the Sikorsky Defiant X to the US Army’s FLRAA program.

On Dec. 5, 2022 Bell Textron had been awarded the development contract for the US Army’s FLRAA program. 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) program that began in 2013.

The initial contract refines the weapon system design, sustainment, digital enterprise, manufacturing, systems integration, flight-testing, and airworthiness qualification.

After Bell Textron has been awarded the development contract for the US Army’s FLRAA program, Sikorsky released the following statement on US Army FLRAA decision: ‘We remain confident Defiant X is the transformational aircraft the US Army requires to accomplish its complex missions today and well into the future. We will evaluate our next steps after reviewing feedback from the Army.’

Photo credit: Lockheed Martin Sikorsky, Bell via The Darth Designer and Team Defiant

Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing filed the protest with GAO concerning the award of FLRAA contract to Bell V-280 Valor
Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant X formation

Share this article

Dario Leone

Dario Leone

Dario Leone is an aviation, defense and military writer. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviation Geek Club” one of the world’s most read military aviation blogs. His writing has appeared in The National Interest and other news media. He has reported from Europe and flown Super Puma and Cougar helicopters with the Swiss Air Force.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share this article


Share this article
Share this article

Always up to date! News and offers delivered directly to you!

Get the best aviation news, stories and features from The Aviation Geek Club in our newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.



    Share this article
    Back to top
    My Agile Privacy
    This website uses technical and profiling cookies. Clicking on "Accept" authorises all profiling cookies. Clicking on "Refuse" or the X will refuse all profiling cookies. By clicking on "Customise" you can select which profiling cookies to activate.
    Warning: some page functionalities could not work due to your privacy choices