Lockheed Martin and Boeing Protest FLRAA Decision

Lockheed Martin, December 30, 2022 - Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, filed a formal protest on December 29 asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the U.S. Army’s decision on the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) contract.

Based on a thorough review of the information and feedback provided by the Army, Lockheed Martin Sikorsky, on behalf of Team DEFIANT, is challenging the FLRAA decision.

The data and discussions lead us to believe the proposals were not consistently evaluated to deliver the best value in the interest of the Army, our Soldiers and American taxpayers.

The critical importance of the FLRAA mission to the Army and our nation requires the most capable, affordable and lowest-risk solution.

We remain confident DEFIANT X is the transformational aircraft the Army requires to accomplish its complex missions today and well into the future

Boeing supports the protest filed by our Team DEFIANT partner, asking the GAO to review the Army’s decision.

FLRAA

On December 6, the Bell V-280 Valor tilt-rotor aircraft was chosen as the new US Army Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) in competition against the Sikorsky/Boeing Defiant X to replace the Black Hawk.

The award is based on Bell development and testing as part of the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program that began in 2013.

A $232 million initial contract was awarded to Bell to cover Valor’s final digital design.

Both teams also compete for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) contract where Sikorsky is promoting the Raider X with a similar configuration as Defiant while Bell is promoting the 360 Invictus, a typical single-main-rotor design.