Search results for: V-280
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To deter the threat from near-peer competitors, the Army’s air assault mission demands a revolution in capability that only a tiltrotor can provide — not just a faster helicopter.
By Breaking DefenseInsights on digital transformation following successes on B-21 and Sentinel
Customers and employees are experiencing the ‘Butterfly Effect’ of digital transformation from key national security programs.
WASHINGTON: In normal times, this week would see Bell Textron and the Sikorsky-Boeing team showing off their cutting-edge aircraft at AUSA Global Force in Huntsville, with video displays, models, and even full-size mock-ups. With conferences closed down because of the coronavirus, we’re making an all-out push to give you a virtual taste of Huntsville (click…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
The Army is skeptical that early models of the Future Vertical Lift aircraft will be able to fly unmanned. But Bell says it’s already flight-tested all the essential automation.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. Critics have argued the tiltrotor aircraft could never be as nimble at low speed and low altitude as a helicopter. Bell says it’s proven them wrong.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
Bell’s prototype tiltrotor keeps pulling ahead of rivals — but the race to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk is far from over.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. “Our new approach is really to prototype as much as we can to help us identify requirements, so our reach doesn’t exceed our grasp,” Secretary Esper said. “A good example is Future Vertical Lift: The prototyping has been exceptional.”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
“We … are looking at opportunities to do a road trip,” Bell executive Keith Flail told me. “Can we take the V-280 to a handful of key Army and Marine Corps installations to show capabilities to the force?”
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
A new approach to speed, scale and efficiency for the industrial base
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Colin Clark climbs in and out of the V-280 at the Association of the US Army show, from cockpit to troop compartment, and gets a thorough briefing from Bell on what they’ve building, from engineering refined by a decade’s experience with the V-22 Osprey to sensor technology derived from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — except upgraded.
By Colin Clark
One variant, in Army colors, has missile racks sticking out of what was originally the passenger cabin — a conversion that units could potentially install or remove as needed in the field. The other, with Marine Corps markings, is a sleeker thoroughbred gunship with internal weapons bays, stealth features, and folding wings to fit in shipboard hangars.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
AUSA: Bell Helicopter is moving right along with its new V-280 Valor, a tiltrotor being built under the Army-led, multiservice Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program. The V-280 – which flies at 280 knots cruising speed — resembles the bigger V-22 Osprey built by Bell and Boeing for the Marine Corps, Air Force Special Operations Command…
By Richard Whittle
Bell’s V-280 tiltrotor didn’t take flight – not yet – but it has tilted its rotors into helicopter mode and spun them up during its first-ever “restrained ground run test.” This test mode plugs the whole aircraft into a bulky apparatus to ensure it doesn’t take off by accident. (That would be bad). The test…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
AMARILLO, TEX.: The Future Vertical Lift program aims to create revolutionary replacements for today’s military helicopters. But how? And why? The answers lie in the speed limits built into the physics of how a helicopter flies. Rival contractors Bell and Sikorsky (part of Lockheed Martin) both say they have transcended those limits to build dramatically…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.
AMARILLO, TEX.: Bell Helicopter is so confident in their new V-280 tilt-rotor prototype that they want the Pentagon to accelerate the Future Vertical Lift program – which they think the V-280 will win – by “five to eight years.” [Click here for our head-to-head comparison of the V-280 and its rival, the Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1] That…
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. AUSA: Bell Helicopter’s exhibit at this week’s Association of the United States Army convention includes a full-scale mockup of the V-280 Valor, the new tiltrotor the company is building. From the outside, it sure looks like a close cousin of the V-22 Osprey. Under the skin, the V-280 seems a lot more like a prop-driven F-35. The…
By Richard Whittle and Colin Clark
