A U.S, Army decision to award a lucrative contract to Texas-based Bell Texatron for its Valor aircraft over Boeing’s Defiant X will stand, writes Ryan Mulligan for Philadelphia Business Journal.

Boeing and Sikorsky protested the Texatron contract win over the Defiant X aircraft, designed by Boeing and Lockheed and Martin subsidiary Sikorsky.

The two aircraft were in competition to see which would replace the U.S. Army’s Blackhawk helicopter fleet.

On Thursday, the Government Accountability Office denied Boeing and Sikorsky’s protest.

The contract’s projected value is $7.1 billion but the U.S. Army said it could be worth 10 times that depending on how many aircraft are ordered.

Much of the Defiant X work would have been done at Boeing’s Ridley Park plant.

The Army deemed the Boeing-Sikorsky bid “technically unacceptable” according to the GAO review, because Sikorsky did not provide enough required architectural detail. 

Sikorsky challenged the “unacceptable” rating.

Boeing and Sikorsky maintain their bid is the most qualified.  

“We remain confident the Lockheed Martin Sikorsky and Boeing team submitted the most capable, affordable, and lowest-risk Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft solution,” the two companies said in a joint statement.

They are reviewing the GAO decision.

Read more about the GAO rejection of the Boeing protest in Philadelphia Business Journal.

Defense News takes a look at the Boeing-Sikorsky protest and compares the Defiant X and the Valor aircraft.