Sikorsky-Boeing’s FLRAA offering flies during a flight test. (Courtesy of Sikorsky-Boeing)
Updated at 1:20 pm to include statements from Honeywell and Boeing executives from a media day at Honeywell’s Washington, D.C. office.
WASHINGTON: The Sikorsky-Boeing team competing for the Army’s future long-range assault aircraft (FLRAA) has chosen Honeywell to provide a variety of engine and power systems technology for their helicopter, Honeywell announced today.
The news comes months after Sikorsky-Boeing said it would be using Honeywell’s HTS7500 turboshaft engine for its FLRAA offering, the DEFIANT X. The FLRAA competition, a part of the Army’s future vertical lift modernization priority, will replace the Army’s aging Black Hawk Helicopter fleet.
Honeywell said the Sikorsky-Boeing team selected its GTCP 36-150 auxiliary power units series as well as its main engine generator and APU generator. The main generator will provide electricity to the aircraft while in flight, while the APU generator will provide electricity to the aircraft on the ground, according to a Honeywell press release.
“Honeywell’s APU for the DEFIANT X is a derivative of the existing and highly successful gtcp 36-150 APU series,” according to the press release. “This new version is equipped with the latest compressor technology originally developed for the commercial aircraft sector. The APU was customized to meet the aircraft installation and performance objectives of the U.S. Army. Today’s 36-150 APU series delivers compressed air for main engine starting air conditioning, anti-ice and heating systems. They are also capable of delivering air and shaft power simultaneously or individually.”
At a media day at Honeywell’s Washington, D.C. office today, John Russo, vice president of turbo shaft engines, said, “We’re actively engaged in design development and we’re supporting Boeing-Sikorsky in their development process,” and said they’ve had several tests to date.
He added the company will be testing the “performance of the compressor and how that operators” on a second development engine next fiscal quarter.
Tony Crutchfield, Boeing’s vice president of Army systems, said the DEFIANT X will require minimal aviator re-training due to its similar footprint to the Black Hawk.
“Although this is radically different for the airframe and the type of capability it brings, it still fits within the range of how we train Army aviators,” Crutchfield said. “With things happening around the world today, as we all know in Ukraine, how rapidly, how much time do they have to make that transition? […] You want to make that time period as short as possible and we believe that this aircraft will help the Army do that.”
The Sikorsky-Boeing team is competing against Bell Textron for the FLRAA contact, which will be awarded in the third quarter of fiscal 2022. According to the Army’s FY22 budget documents, prototype deliveries of FLRAA are scheduled to begin in FY25, with the first unit equipped in FY30.
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At the same time, the service is developing the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft. Sikorsky and Bell are also finalists in the FARA competition.
Sikorsky earlier this year offered its first glimpse of its FARA offering. The company’s FVL director told reporters that the company plans to fly the aircraft for the first time in the third quarter of FY23. Bell plans to fly its prototype early next year.
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