Requests GAO Review of Contract Award for UH-60 Replacement Aircraft

What modern aircraft development program would be complete without drawn-out court shenanigans?

Thankfully, as seems to be the norm today, Sikorsky has done the needful and protested the recent contract award for the U.S. Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) contract to Bell Textron. Sikorsky filed a formal protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the Army’s decision on the contract, hoping to finagle a 'win' out of the jaws of defeat. 

The Boeing company's offering for the contract, the DEFIANT X, retains more of a classic helicopter profile, sporting a pair of stacked main rotors and a pusher prop in the tail. Bell's winning selection is a tiltrotor, fixed-wing aircraft in the same vein as the operational V-22 Osprey. When the Army announced its selection in early December, they described the FLRAA program as a way to swap out their long-in-the-tooth UH-60 Black Hawks with something that went above and beyond its operational capability. 

"FLRAA will expand the depth of the battlefield by extending the reach of air assault missions and enabling ground forces to converge through decentralized operations at extended distances," said an Army press release. Its "inherent reach and standoff capabilities will ensure mission success through tactical maneuver at operational and strategic distances."

Boeing said they back the decision to protest the Bell award, hoping for a review of the Army's decision.

"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," said an official Boeing release.

"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."

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.sikorsky.com