The phase one contract work will continue under phase two as the US Army concludes requirements for the programme of record planned for 2022. Credit: Bell Textron Inc.

Bell Textron is executing the Competitive Demonstration and Risk Reduction (CD&RR) contract phase two for the US Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) programme.

The CD&RR contract was awarded in March last year. Sikorsky-Boeing team has also received the phase two contract.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

Related Company Profiles

View all

Bell is offering its V-280 Valor tilt-rotor vertical lift helicopter design for FLRAA. It is competing against Sikorsky-Boeing team jointly developed SB-1 Defiant, a compound co-axial helicopter.

Bell Advanced Vertical Lift Systems executive vice-president Keith Flail said: “This is the next step to a programme of record and Bell is proud to closely collaborate with the Army to transition our flight-proven V-280 Valor into a highly-capable and sustainable FLRAA weapons system.

“Bell and our Team Valor teammates continue to optimize our platform based on research, design, and thorough flight-testing of the aircraft to deliver an outstanding capability for the army.”

The two teams will complete an initial preliminary design event for major subsystems and the conceptual weapons system under these contracts.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

During the first phase of the CD&RR contract, Bell provided detailed iterations on the V-280 design, data to highlight the feasibility of executing the programme of record requirements, as well as executed trade studies using ‘model-based systems engineering’.

This phase one contract work will continue under phase two as the US Army concludes requirements for the programme of record planned for 2022.

Since its first flight in 2017, the V-280 aircraft team has executed a rigorous flight test programme flying over 200 hours via 160 individual test flights.

This delivered critical data to validate Bell’s digital models and performance.

Bell FLRAA vice-president and programme director Ryan Ehinger said: “This aircraft is not an engineering science project. The V-280 tiltrotor provides a critical and combat-proven capability needed to maintain our US military’s ability to deter adversaries by radically improving over the current fleet’s speed, range, versatility, and sustainability.”