Army Approves Milestone B Decision

Bell Textron announced the U.S. Army has approved the Milestone B decision for its Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), signifying the start of the weapon system’s Program of Record (PoR).

The Milestone B decision is an element of the Major Capability Acquisition process and results from years of the Bell team and the U.S. Army working together to develop requirements, reduce risk, and includes ensuring the integration and effectiveness of the aircraft’s design, sustainment, and system integrations critical to the Army’s special mission requirements.

The goal of the U.S. Army’s new long range assault aircraft is to fly twice as far and twice as fast as the current fleet. The use of tiltrotor technology, an open architecture, and digital engineering promise to make it the most reliable, affordable, and high-performing long-range assault aircraft in the world.

In response to the U.S. Army’s contract award in 2022, Bell established new state-of-the-art facilities and innovative manufacturing processes to drive cost and performance to execute the program. Next phases will be to continue to mature the design and prototyping.

Col. Jeffrey Poquette, FLRAA Project Manager said “This significant milestone is made possible by the years of hard work and sacrifice by Team FLRAA and our teammates throughout the Army and the Department of Defense. We are poised to deliver a truly transformational aircraft for the Army. The hard work continues into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development Phase where we will design, build and test FLRAA prototypes. It is certainly an exciting time for the program.”

Ryan Ehinger, Bell’s Senior Vice President and Program Director, FLRAA program said, "This achievement marks a historic moment for both the U.S. Army and Bell. Now that the program has Milestone B approval, the course is set for delivering transformational capability to the warfighter. The FLRAA team remains laser-focused on working in tandem with the U.S. Army to execute the next phase of Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD).”

FMI:  news.bellflight.com/