GE Aerospace awarded subcontract for FLRAA next phase

GE Aerospace was awarded a subcontract as part of a team led by Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, to design, develop, and deliver avionics systems for the United States Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. This award follows Bell’s announcement of the U.S. Army’s approval of Milestone B, marking the next phase of Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD).  

“The maturity of the digital backbone for the U.S. Army's Future Long Range Assault Aircraft was critical to passing Milestone B and entering the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program,” said Matt Burns, general manager of Avionics Systems for GE Aerospace.

“Entering this next phase enables us to continue advancing the digital backbone for the U.S. Army’s future vertical lift programs,” said Tanika Watson, general manager, Future Vertical Lift for GE Aerospace. “The Digital Backbone provides the framework to make aircraft system modifications and realize the benefits of Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) designs from the outset of Future Vertical Lift programs.”

The Digital Backbone will allow customers to make changes to the weapon system without going to the systems integrator, which optimizes the cost and speed of change. The Digital Backbone incorporates Time-Sensitive Networking to provide a reliable, high speed, data “highway” to meet current and future needs for moving data through the aircraft. In addition to the Digital Backbone announced in 2023, GE Aerospace also supplies the Health Awareness System for FLRAA. GE Aerospace’s Health Awareness System builds on decades of commercial and military operation and has saved operators millions of dollars and increased mission readiness with predictive maintenance. 

This material is based upon work supported by the Army Contracting Command - Redstone Arsenal under Contract No. W58RGZ-23-C-0001. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Army Contracting Command - Redstone Arsenal.