As its name implies, the main mission of the FLRAA will be attacks on long-range aerial vehicles carrying both troops and cargo internally and externally, hanging from below. The conceptual art that Lockheed Martin and Boeing launched from Defiant X shows helicopters carrying cargo containers and 155 mm towed M777 howitzers as an example.
“One of the keywords here is versatility,” said Heather McBryan, Boeing’s director of sales and marketing for the vertical uplift of the future, at a meeting ahead of today’s official announcement. “Although the FLRAA mission is more than just flying fast, and while we know that the rhythm mission is the air assault mission, this aircraft will have to do many other things on a daily basis and our design and capability really provides that extreme lifting power to these types of missions. “
The Army is also analyzing the FLRAA winning project as a replacement for at least some of the specially configured MH-60L / M helicopters designated for the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR). The requirements established by the service in 2018 also included the discussion of a potential configuration for the U.S. Marine Corps.
There is already a supposedly significant foreign interest in the FLRAA competition, including within NATO, which makes a lot of sense considering how many countries around the world operate UH-60s, or other helicopters of similar size, which are also in many cases , increasingly needing replacement. NATO is also now looking at a potential intra-European project to meet these requirements.
The Army’s current goal is to issue a formal request for proposals for the FLRAA program before the end of the 2021 Fiscal Year on September 30 and choose a winner sometime in the subsequent 2022 Fiscal Year. The hope is that the first examples will enter operational service by 2030.
It remains to be seen exactly how Bell’s offer will be, but just as Defiant X is based on the SB> 1 Defiant, its proposal will likely be derived directly from the V-280 Valor tilt rotor and based on its own experience in the demonstration effort. of JMR technology.