Bell Textron, a subsidiary of Textron, has won the US Army’s future long-range assault aircraft (FLRAA) programme competition.
A development contract has been awarded to the company for its V-280 tiltrotor system, which has cleared the required assessments under the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator programme, initiated in 2013.
The programme saw the V-280 Valor vertical lift helicopter progressing through design, manufacturing, and three-year-long flight-testing processes.
The evaluation process provided extensive data to validate technical/operational advantages of Valor as a long-range assault mission aircraft.
Under the initial award, Bell will work to refine the weapon system design of the aircraft and perform associated tasks including systems integration, digital enterprise, manufacturing, sustainment, flight-testing, and airworthiness qualification.
Textron CEO and chairman Scott Donnelly said: “We intend to honour trust by building a truly remarkable and transformational weapon system to meet the army’s mission requirements.”
In addition, Textron’s other subsidiary, Textron Systems, has received a contract to develop a remote command-and-control capable anti-vehicle precision munition system for the US Army.
The $162m contract has a performance period of over five years.
It has been awarded by the US Army Contracting Command, in collaboration with Army Project Manager Close Combat Systems.
The new system is being developed to support the Army’s terrain shaping operations modernisation programme.
Textron Systems will design an ‘anti-vehicle, soldier-in-the-loop munition system’ that will support the Close Terrain Shaping Obstacle (CTSO) Increment 1 common anti-vehicle munition-based top attack system.
The CTSO Increment 1 supports the army’s effort to replace conventional munitions with next-generation technology, allowing troops to effectively perform terrain-shaping operations against different peer adversaries.
It will prevent enemy armoured vehicles from manoeuvring freely.
Work also involves Textron conducting contractor qualification testing and delivering associated hardware for supporting government qualification assessments.
