Artist's concept of the V-280 Valor, Bell Textron's FLRAA tiltrotor Bell Textron
Army’s planned assault rotorcraft clears hurdle, will move to engineering phase
Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program gets greenlight to build six prototype tiltrotors.
The Army’s future-rotorcraft program cleared a risk assessment and is a go for engineering and development—and building six prototypes of its new Future Long Range Assault Aircraft, or FLRAA.
On Friday, the service announced that the program had cleared Milestone B—that is, to move from the risk assessment phase to engineering and manufacturing development.
The Army now has permission to fund construction of six prototypes of its new Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) after a successful design review in April, the Army announced Friday following its approval of the FLRAA Milestone B (MS B) Acquisition Decision Memorandum.
Milestone B marks the beginning of engineering and manufacturing development, following an assessment of risks associated with a program.
The FLRAA helicopter is an assault and medical evacuation helicopter that will partially replace the Army’s UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters. The tilt-rotor helicopter is meant to have an increased range and endurance, sporting a range of at least 1,700 nautical miles to the Black Hawk’s 320 nautical miles.
The helicopter’s range and other features will “expand the depth of the battlefield, extending reach to conduct air assault missions from relative sanctuary,” according to an Army press release.
Bell Textron won the $1.3 billion contract for the new helicopter in December 2022. The Army has said the first FLRAA flight will occur in 2026. The Army will then begin low-rate initial production in 2028, with initial fielding set to start in 2030.