GAO Denies Sikorsky’s Challenge To Army Selection Of Bell V-280 Valor

The decision clears the way for continued development of the $7.1 billion Valor program.

Jonathan Welsh

Friday, April 07, 2023 at 04:38 PM ET

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The Bell V-280 can go from a hover to a top speed of around 280 knots. [Credit: Bell]

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.'s protest against the Army's selection of Bell Textron's V-280 Valor tiltrotor for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program.
The Army had deemed Sikorsky's DefiantX proposal "technically unacceptable" due to a lack of required architectural detail, a finding the GAO concluded was reasonable.
The FLRAA program, valued at approximately $7.1 billion, aims to replace the Army's UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.

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The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. protest against the Army’s selection of the Bell Textron V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft over Sikorsky’s proposed DefiantX helicopter.

The Army announced its choice of the Bell Textron candidate late last year following a design competition for an Army program called the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, or FLRAA. The program was created to develop a replacement for the Army’s fleet of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and begin fielding aircraft by fiscal year 2030.