Army releases FLRAA RFP to Bell, Sikorsky-Boeing team

The Army released the request for proposals July 6 for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft to the two competitors in the demonstration and risk-reduction phases of the program, Textron's Bell and a Sikorsky-Boeing team.

The Army will choose one of the competitors in fiscal year 2022 to build FLRAA, which is expected to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. With options, the contract could last through the completion of low-rate initial production deliveries.

"The FLRAA RFP leverages competition enabling the Army to garner appropriate intellectual property rights early in the weapon system life cycle," a spokesman for the Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team wrote in a July 13 statement to Inside Defense. "The FLRAA contract award to one vendor will encompass the development, prototyping, flight test, and fielding of the FLRAA weapon system."

Specifics of the RFP will not be released, according to the spokesman.

Defense News reported the release of the RFP yesterday.

Bell and the Sikorsky-Boeing team won other transaction authority agreements in March 2020 for the competitive demonstration and risk-reduction phase of the FLRAA program. Both competitors advanced to the second risk-reduction phase in March 2021.

The same teams are competing for the Army's other future vertical lift program, the Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircraft, which will replace the AH-64 Apache. The Army expects to field both future vertical lift programs by 2030.