U.S. Army’s New Tiltrotor Reaches Milestone B, Moving To Next Phase Of Development | Aviation

With the achievement of the Milestone B, the FLRAA program now moves into the engineering and manufacturing development phase and becomes a Program of Record.

The Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), the U.S. Army’s new tiltrotor, is now a Program of Record (PoR) after the service has approved the Milestone B decision. The Bell V-280 Valor, which won the competition for the Army’s new helicopter in late 2022, will now move into the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase.

With the Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program cancelled earlier this year, FLRAA becomes the only Future Vertical Lift (FVL) platform to move into the EMD phase. In a press release on Aug. 2, 2024, the Army said the decision came after the successful FLRAA preliminary design review in April and a meeting of the Army Systems Acquisition Review Council (ASARC) in June.

“After reviewing FLRAA affordability, technological viability, threat projections and security, engineering, manufacturing, sustainment and cost risks, the ASARC confirmed that all sources of program risk have been adequately addressed for this phase of the program,” added the service.

“This an important step for FLRAA and demonstrates the Army’s commitment to our highest aviation modernization priority,” said the Army…