Safran has secured a contract to provide flight testing solutions and antennae for the US Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program.
Once shipped, the French company’s evaluation capabilities and signal components are expected to deliver “precise data acquisition, recording, and analysis” for the incoming aircraft’s ongoing development.
“FLRAA is a key development in the US Army’s modernization efforts, and we are excited to contribute to this mission with our advanced flight-testing solutions,” Safran Aerospace Instrumentation & Mission Systems for Testing & Telemetry EVP Andrei Gugiu stated.
“This contract underscores the dedication and expertise of our team in delivering reliable, mission-critical technologies for the US government.”
Safran received a separate FLRAA contract in May 2024 to supply a high-voltage generator device for future aircraft.
The Future Long Range Assault Aircraft
FLRAA is an effort to produce a new rotary wing platform that will slowly replace the force’s aging UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters upon their decommissioning.
The Pentagon selected Bell Textron’s 51-foot (16-meter) V-280 Valor system in 2022 as the FLRAA’s production aircraft.
It will have a main propeller diameter of 35 feet (11 meters) and two Rolls-Royce AE turboshaft engines for a range of 2,100 nautical miles (2,417 miles/3,889 kilometers), an altitude of 6,000 feet (1,829 meters), and a top speed of 280 knots (322 miles/519 kilometers per hour).
