Boeing to showcase its progress for Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator Defiant at AUSA 2014.

The Army of United States has selected Bell Helicopter and a Boeing-Sikorsky team to produce and fly rotorcraft in 2017 for its joint multi-role technical demonstrator program, giving these companies a leg up in developing the service’s next-generation fleet.

The JMR (Joint Multi-Role) program is the Army’s science and technology effort for the future vertical lift program of record — the intended procurement vehicle to field speedy, long-range successors to the Army’s helicopter fleets. The medium variant of FVL, scheduled for initial operating capability in the mid 2030s, would replace Boeing’s AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and Sikorsky’s UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter.

The Boeing-Sikorsky JMR project was unveiled at AUSA 2013 under the name of Defiant. The U.S. the Army announced it was investing $217 million in the first phase of its ambitious JMR program, calling this first development stage the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) initiative.

With rigid coaxial rotors, pusher propeller and advanced fly-by-wire controls, "Defiant will use Sikorsky’s proven X2 technology to overcome aircraft design challenges," says Mick Maurer, Sikorsky’s president. The demonstrator will be powered by a pair of Honeywell T55 turboshafts.