Bell, Sikorsky-Boeing in a Winner-Take-All U.S. Army Helicopter Contest

The billion-dollar program winner will replace the venerable Black Hawk in U.S. Army service.

In the aerospace industry, big military contracts can come in two ways: low-volume, high value platforms, and the opposite, multirole aircraft with enough development potential to sustain production over decades. The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is an example of the latter, in production since 1979 and still on the line today, with about 4,000 produced so far. The replacement rotorcraft for such a successful program has to deliver outstanding performance, and it represents a massive production commitment for the winning airframer. Bell and Sikorsky–Boeing have produced radically different aircraft in the competition for this lucrative contract. The winner may establish the standard for VTOL military aircraft for decades to come. 

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The saying goes, “all good things come to an end.” For Sikorsky’s UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter program, the end has not come yet, but it’s approaching. One replacement for the versatile Black Hawk will arrive as part of the U.S. Army Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program, initiated in 2019 to use new propulsion technology, materials and airframe designs to build faster, longer-range, higher payload aircraft with lower maintenance requirements and operating costs. 

It’s a tall order, and the competition for the high-volume medium lift requirement has boiled down to two aircraft: the Bell V-280 Valor and the Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant X. The program requirements, which are essentially more of everything compared to the already capable UH-60 series, required the companies to do more than redesign existing single rotor helicopter platforms, and both teams have produced radically different designs. 

The Defiant X uses coaxial rotors and a pusher propeller to deliver fixed wing cruise speeds with the vertical takeoff and landing capabilities of a helicopter. The V–280 Valor is entirely different, a tilt-rotor aircraft similar in concept to the V-22 Osprey currently in service. This design also promises fixed wing speeds with vertical takeoff and landing. Both aircraft are fast, with the Valor offering a 280-knot cruise, and the Defiant X nearly as fast with 250 knot speed. Defiant X is powered by two Honeywell HTS7500 turboshaft, which are 42 percent more powerful than previous generation T55 variants.  

Bell’s Valor will fly with two variants of the Rolls-Royce T406 used in the V-22, where the engines deliver 6,000 shaft horsepower each. Both competitors will need plenty of power, with efficiency, because U.S. Army minimum requirements for the winner are challenging: a 230-mile unrefuelled combat radius, with a one-way un-refuelled radius of almost 2,000 miles, and a 30 minute loiter at maximum payload. The Army wants a continuous cruise speed is 250 knots, and the cabin floor must withstand 300 pounds per square foot loading. And that cabin must accommodate 12 people: two pilots, two cabin crew and eight troops. 

Carrying cargo, the competitors will lift well over two tons. This kind of capability won’t be cheap, and the Army would like to pay about 50,000,000 dollars per unit in today’s dollars and begin deployment in 2030. Both designs use advanced materials and manufacturing techniques, as well as advanced design methodologies like digital twin and model-based systems engineering. 

Aircraft are expensive, but major helicopter programs like the Black Hawk can last for decades, making them very lucrative. Some industry analysts predict that possible revenue for the winner may total more than 40,000,000,000 dollars through 2050. And like all large program military procurements, there may be political considerations as well. 

According to Douglas Harned, a Wall Street aerospace analyst and Senior Vice President at Bernstein, a Boeing Sikorsky win could lower Bell’s ability to compete in future programs, although he notes that both aircraft appear to meet the program specifications. Two radically different aircraft designs, each with unique advantages, and capable of fulfilling the Army’s difficult performance specifications. Tilt or coaxial rotors? The winner may define the future of large rotorcraft for the foreseeable future.

Written by

James Anderton

Jim Anderton is the Director of Content for ENGINEERING.com. Mr. Anderton was formerly editor of Canadian Metalworking Magazine and has contributed to a wide range of print and on-line publications, including Design Engineering, Canadian Plastics, Service Station and Garage Management, Autovision, and the National Post. He also brings prior industry experience in quality and part design for a Tier One automotive supplier.