Page 27 - ADT JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2023 Online Magazine

 ROTORCRAFT

THE SUSPENSE GROWS

WITH THE SIKORSKY-BOEING TEAM pany does not want to cede top position to its

PROTESTING THE U.S. ARMY’S FLRAA competitors. A final decision in favor of Bell may
end up tilting the balance away from Sikorsky,
AWARD TO BELL TEXTRON, THE WAIT with friends and allies likely to be influenced by
FOR A SUCCESSOR TO THE UH-60 the U.S. Army’s decision when they search for a
Black Hawk successor, due to factors such as
BLACK HAWK CONTINUES interoperability. There are 28 Black Hawk oper-
ators in the world, and that is a lot of business
 ARUN SIVASANKARAN to be won or lost.

No one was surprised when Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing The FLRAA contract is worth up to US$1.2 bil-
announced they were contesting the U.S. Army’s decision to select lion for a virtual prototype of the V-280, which
the Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor as the winner of the Future Long Range will be followed by a US$7.1 billion deal for Bell
Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) programme to replace the ageing UH-60 to complete engineering and manufacturing
Black Hawk. development. The initial prototype will be deliv-
ered to the Army by 2025. Over its lifetime, the
There is simply too much at stake for the decision to have gone deal could be worth as much as US$70 billion
unchallenged. Less than four weeks after the service announced for an unspecified number of V-280s. The Valor
the winner of the competition, Sikorsky filed a formal protest asking is expected to eventually replace about 2,000
the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the U.S. Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks and 1,200 Boeing
Army’s decision, with Boeing backing the complaint. GAO has up to AH-64 Apache attack helicopters.
100 days, until April 7, to rule in the bid protest.
The V-280 does not pose an immediate chal-
According to industry watchers, the issue is not likely to be settled lenge to the Black Hawk, as the UH-60 is
at that level and could end up in court, given that a lot is riding on expected to continue production well into the
the decision for both Bell and Sikorsky-Boeing. Perhaps even more future. “We expect that (Sikorsky) will continue
important than the money involved is the impact the U.S. Army’s to see stable demand for the UH-60 Blackhawk
decision will have beyond U.S. soil. from international customers an upgrades/sus-

FAR-REACHING IMPLICATIONS tainment of the existing global fleet over the
balance of this decade and into the next,” Byron
In the UH-60 Black Hawk, Lockheed-Sikorsky has the most successful Callan, managing director at Capital Alpha
military helicopter in terms of sales in the modern era; the com- Partners, wrote in a note to investors.
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