Sikorsky and teammate Boeing launched a formal protest Dec. 28 against the Army’s selection of the Bell Textron V-280 Valor tiltrotor in the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft competition.

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, and Boeing are asking the Government Accountability Office to take a look at the decision.

“Based on a thorough review of the information and feedback provided by the Army, Lockheed Martin Sikorsky, on behalf of Team DEFIANT, is challenging the FLRAA decision. The data and discussions lead us to believe the proposals were not consistently evaluated to deliver the best value in the interest of the Army, our Soldiers and American taxpayers,” the two companies declared in a statement.

The Army announced Dec. 4 that it had chosen the Valor over the Sikorsky/Boeing Defiant. The deal is worth approximately $1.3 billion, with initial obligations valued at $232 million over the next 19 months. However, if the program moves into full production, the deal could be worth about $70 billion for the life of the program.

The GAO has 100 days to rule on the protest, which many analysts had expected.

On Dec. 5, the assistant secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, told reporters that the Army’s FLRAA schedule has “accounted” for the protest.

The FLRAA competition saw Bell’s V-280 Valor go up against the Sikorsky/Boeing Defiant X. The Valor is a tiltrotor design, while the Defiant X features coaxial rotor blades. Both are designed to fill the same footprint as the Black Hawk. The Army currently has more than 2,000 Black Hawks in service.

According to Paul Lemmo, Sikorsky president, the team conducted “a thorough review of the information and feedback provided by the Army.

“The data and discussions lead us to believe the proposals were not consistently evaluated to deliver the best value in the interest of the Army, our soldiers and American taxpayers,” he said.