Originally Posted by
Sam W
From Quad A:
First flight of the prototype now scheduled for 2026. Slippage from 2025 blamed on LM protest.
My contacts at Bell told me what happened when LM filed their protest. For three months there was no funding to keep the Bell engineering teams on FLRAA together to continue working. So, with the exception of management, almost all engineers, had to find homes on other programs. Most went to FARA, which was understaffed.
When the LM protest was finally denied, it took time to bring the engineers back, and get everyone back up to speed. The situation was even worse with FLRAA suppliers. They also had to find homes for their engineers on other programs. However, many of these engineers did not return.
So if anyone wonders how a three month delay turns into a year, now you know.