After Bell Textron's V-280 Valor convertible was finally selected as the winner of the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition to develop a replacement for the UH-60 Black Hawk, the Pentagon has clarified its plans for the vehicle.
In particular, in the short term, as Breaking Defense reports with reference to the executive director of the aviation program Major General Robert Barrie, the transition of the FLRAA project from the V-280 Valor to the rank of program of record. This transition means receiving funding or funding guarantees approved by the US Congress.
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In order to receive it, it is necessary to approve a document on the development of the project, which must be carried out by the Army Requirements Oversight Council. This document will specify all the specific requirements for the new vehicle, and it should be adopted only in July. Then it will be considered by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council with the participation of the US Department of Defense leadership, the term of this review is the end of 2023.
The decision to transfer the program to the rank of program of record. That is, approval at the level of Congress – from April to June 2024. And exclusively from this stage, the FLRAA project to create the V-280 Valor according to the approved requirements of the military will receive the green light.
That is, only standard bureaucratic procedures in the USA take a year. Although according to the military themselves, in general, the V-280 Valor prototype suits them. Moreover, making significant changes to the design is not foreseen. At the same time, this is a common and usual procedure for similar programs. And the terms of one year are determined on the condition that everything goes properly.
At the same time, when it comes to the plan to replace all UH-60 Black Hawks with the Bell Textron development, and if we take only the needs of the United States, then these are estimated contracts for a total amount of more than 70 billion dollars. Of these, 1.4 billion dollars will be spent initially on proving the prototype and preparing for serial production, and another 7 billion dollars will be spent on low-speed production – perhaps such procedures are not superfluous.
Delivery of the first V-280 Valor to the US Army is expected no earlier than 2030. And replacing all UH-60 Black Hawks will obviously take a decade.
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