U.S. Army awards large helicopter contract to Bell Textron
NewsDecember 06, 2022
FORT WORTH, Texas. The U.S. Army chose Textron's Bell unit to produce and deliver the service's next-generation assault helicopter, the V-280 "Valor" tiltrotor able to take off and land vertically but also fly forward at high speeds.
The winning rotorcraft -- which the Army calls the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) -- is aimed at replacing the Army's current fleet of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks, which have been in use for more than 40 years.
According to the Army announcement of the contract win, Bell received a $232 million contract on Monday, which is the initial piece of a deal that could total as much as $7.1 billion for development and an initial batch of aircraft. Over decades, Army officials asserted in the announcement, the contract could be worth as much as $70 billion, depending on how many V-280s the Army and U.S. allies order.
