Army Reviews Bell’s FLRAA Virtual Prototype

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

“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," said Col. Jeffrey Poquette, FLRAA Project Manager. "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 TTPs (Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures) in preparation for FLRAA’s transformational speed and range. These assets are expected to be converted into Flight Training Devices (FTDs) over time.

“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,” said Ryan Ehinger, senior vice president and FLRAA program director, Bell.