Sikorsky and Boeing have delivered their joint Defiant X proposal ahead of schedule to the US Army as a candidate solution for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) requirement.
In a 7 September statement, Sikorsky president Paul Lemmo and Mark Cherry, VP and HM of Vertical Lift at Boeing Defense, Space & Security, said: ‘Today, Team Defiant completed and submitted the proposal for the US Army’s FLRAA competition, offering [a] low-risk, transformational capability that delivers on an Army critical modernisation priority and advances the future of Army aviation.’
They claimed that Defiant X 'delivers speed where it matters' as well as survivability, 'unsurpassed power', manoeuvrability and other benefits for the US Army, 'while operating in the same footprint as the Black Hawk'.
The coaxial Defiant X is competing against the Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor for FLRAA.
Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) [USA]
SB-1 Defiant