Army Chooses Valor Tiltrotor To Replace Black Hawk Helos

The U.S. Army has decided to replace its utility helicopters with a tiltrotor, reports Breaking Defense.

On Tuesday, the service announced the Bell Textron V-280 Valor tiltrotor as the winner of its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk.

Bell received an initial 19-month, $232 million contract on Monday as part of a deal that could be worth up to $1.3 billion.

The initial award will support the ongoing preliminary design work and deliver “virtual prototypes of a potentially model-based system,” Army officials said.

An initial prototype could be ready in 2025, but additional contracts would need to be awarded first, reported Defense One.

If the aircraft enters production, the program could be worth up to $70 billion over its lifetime.

The Valor was chosen over Sikorsky’s coaxial rotor Defiant X helicopter. Officials declined to provide reasons for their decision, saying only that the V-280 was the “best value.”