Sikorsky Challenges Army Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft Contract Award to Bell

Lockheed Martin’s (NYSE: LMT) Sikorsky subsidiary has filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office asking GAO to assess the U.S. Army’s decision to award the potential $1.3 billion Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft development contract to Textron’s (NYSE: TXT) Bell subsidiary.

“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,” Lockheed said in a statement published Wednesday.

On Dec. 5, Bell Textron won the contract to build its V-280 Valor tiltrotor for the FLRAA program, which will replace the military branch’s UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. Under the initial contract, the company will develop and deliver virtual prototypes to support design, integration and testing activities under the program.

In March 2021, Bell and the team of Sikorsky and Boeing (NYSE: BA) received contract modifications to perform work on the second phase of the FLRAA program’s competitive demonstration and risk reduction effort.

In mid-2021, the Army issued a request for proposals to Bell and to the Sikorsky-Boeing team, which proposed the Defiant X coaxial helicopter for the competition.

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