Textron’s Bell company won the $1.3 billion tender opened by the US Army, which includes the highest helicopter procurement in the last 40 years.
The results of the next-generation helicopter tender, which will replace the Black Hawk and Apache-type helicopters in the Pentagon’s inventory, were announced.
The tender included the Defiant X coaxial rotor helicopter, a joint project of Sikorsky and Boeing, and Textron’s Future Long Range Attack Helicopter (FLRAA). Textron’s Bell company won the tender.
The contract, valued at $1.3 billion, will last until the 2030s. The new generation helicopters will replace about 2,000 Black Hawk utility helicopters and 1,200 Apache attack helicopters.
FLRAA will be able to travel about 2,440 nautical miles without refueling, and will also play a role in transporting troops to dangerous hot spots.
The US Army has not made such a large-scale purchase of helicopters since the Apache helicopters in the 1980s.
Boeing’s $7 billion RAH-66 Comanche helicopter project was canceled in 2004.
