Bell demonstrates FLRAA virtual prototype to US Army

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, joined the U.S. Army Program Manager Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) office and members of Team FLRAA in support of a program status update and demonstration of the FLRAA Virtual Prototype.

“I am thrilled to see the first piece of hardware that will be delivered on the Army’s FLRAA program,” said Col. Jeffrey Poquette, FLRAA Project Manager. “By leveraging Congressional authorities, not only will we deliver two FLRAA virtual prototype cockpit simulators but also accelerate the broader FLRAA program by four years. Once delivered they will provide our user community, Army pilots, with the ability to experiment with tiltrotor tactics and ultimately develop doctrine for its future use. Additionally, we will take the feedback received from our users and seek to incorporate what is most important to them into the final design of the aircraft. Overall, this represents great progress for the FLRAA program.”

The Virtual Prototype, an advanced simulator based on a digital twin of the FLRAA weapon system, is a key element of the Army’s accelerated acquisition approach leveraging the Middle Tier of Acquisition (MTA) process. The two virtual prototypes will support accelerated user familiarization, feedback, and development of Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) in preparation for FLRAA’s transformational speed and range. These assets are expected to be converted into Flight Training Devices (FTDs) over time.

“I am incredibly proud of the joint team’s execution, working together in parallel to the weapon system development to deliver this advanced capability,” said Ryan Ehinger, senior vice president and FLRAA program director, Bell. “Having the PM FLRAA team alongside the Bell team as we head into final USG testing and delivery is further evidence of the extensive industry/government collaboration benefitting this program.”

The U.S. Army’s new long-range assault aircraft is designed to fly twice as far and twice as fast as the current fleet while providing unmatched agility and handling capabilities. Using mature tiltrotor technology coupled with an innovative digital engineering approach and a modular open systems approach, it is designed to be the most reliable, affordable and high-performing long-range assault aircraft in the world.

This material is based upon work supported by the Army Contracting Command – Redstone Arsenal under Contract No.W58RGZ-23-C-0001. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Army Contracting Command – Redstone Arsenal.