Connecticut”™s congressional delegation is requesting that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III directed the Department of the Army to provide a detailed briefing on the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition that resulted in Stratford”™s Sikorsky Aircraft losing an Army contract bid.
In a letter to Secretary Austin, the delegation detailed their four previous requests for a briefing and the Army leadership”™s repeated refusals, as well as the factual inaccuracies of their shifting justifications. Last December, the Army announced it selected Bell Textron”™s V-280 Valor over the Sikorsky Defiant-X as the winner of the FLRAA competition.
“For the last two months, we have unsuccessfully attempted to engage senior leadership in the Department of the Army to seek information on the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition,” the delegation wrote in a letter to Austin. “The Department of the Army has declined to provide us with a briefing, offering incomplete, misleading, and factually incorrect justifications as to why Members of Congress are not entitled to receive this information while the Government Accountability Office (GAO) evaluates a competitor”™s protest.”
The delegation added it wanted the Army briefing to be held no later than Feb. 17.
