Beyond The Black Hawk: Defiant Vs. Valor

Beyond The Black Hawk: Defiant Vs. Valor
Beyond The Black Hawk: Defiant Vs. Valor

After decades of R&D, the race to replace the UH-60 helicopter is entering its last few years.

FVL: Army Won’t Wait For Sikorsky To Catch Up To Bell

FVL: Army Won’t Wait For Sikorsky To Catch Up To Bell
FVL: Army Won’t Wait For Sikorsky To Catch Up To Bell

“We don’t have the time or luxury to wait for people,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said. “They’ve got to keep pace with us if they want to do business with us.”

FARA: Why AVX Has A Shot At Army Scout

FARA: Why AVX Has A Shot At Army Scout
FARA: Why AVX Has A Shot At Army Scout

Dark horse design house AVX has never built a complete aircraft. The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft competition just might change that.

Invisible, Essential: Open Architecture For Army Aircraft

Invisible, Essential: Open Architecture For Army Aircraft
Invisible, Essential: Open Architecture For Army Aircraft

The Army will hold five demonstrations this year for the electronic backbone of its future manned aircraft and drones. A forerunner is already entering service.

Baby Steps For Defiant As Army Accelerates FVL

Baby Steps For Defiant As Army Accelerates FVL
Baby Steps For Defiant As Army Accelerates FVL

The Sikorsky-Boeing super-copter has just over an hour of flight time, but the Army says it has all the data it needs to accelerate the program. How?

FVL: Next Steps For UH-60 & Shadow Replacements In ‘Weeks’

FVL: Next Steps For UH-60 & Shadow Replacements In ‘Weeks’
FVL: Next Steps For UH-60 & Shadow Replacements In ‘Weeks’

How can Army accelerate its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft when one leading contender started flight tests just seven days ago?

SB>1 Defiant Takes Flight: Can It Catch Bell?

SB>1 Defiant Takes Flight: Can It Catch Bell?
SB>1 Defiant Takes Flight: Can It Catch Bell?

The thing that delayed Defiant, it turns out, is the same thing that makes it really attractive to the Army.

Bell V-280 Valor: Anniversary Tour?

Bell V-280 Valor: Anniversary Tour?
Bell V-280 Valor: Anniversary Tour?

“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?”

Taking Sikorsky’s Scout Simulator For A Spin (Literally)

Taking Sikorsky’s Scout Simulator For A Spin (Literally)
Taking Sikorsky’s Scout Simulator For A Spin (Literally)

“It’s much more like a fighter aircraft than a helicopter,” Sikorsky’s test pilot tells me in the video as he maneuvers gleefully.
“Whoa, warn me next time!” I say after a particularly nifty/nauseating roll.

Bell Pushes V-280 Gunship, Shipboard Variants: Recon In Works

Bell Pushes V-280 Gunship, Shipboard Variants: Recon In Works
Bell Pushes V-280 Gunship, Shipboard Variants: Recon In Works

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.

Uncertainty & Anxiety About Army’s New Scout Aircraft

Uncertainty & Anxiety About Army’s New Scout Aircraft
Uncertainty & Anxiety About Army’s New Scout Aircraft

WASHINGTON: After months of hints, the Army announced Friday it wants competing prototypes of a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft flying by 2023. But there’s a deal of uncertainty — even anxiety — about what the Army wants. “Industry can develop whatever the government tells them what they want, if it sticks to the requirements and…

Sikorsky Flies Triple Threat For FVL: Light, Medium, & Robot

Sikorsky Flies Triple Threat For FVL: Light, Medium, & Robot
Sikorsky Flies Triple Threat For FVL: Light, Medium, & Robot

CRYSTAL CITY: This is the year Sikorsky catches up on the Future Vertical Lift program, company executives told reporters Monday. Yes, last year arch-rival Bell Helicopter was first to fly its entry in the Joint Multi-Role flight demonstration, the official lead-in to FVL. But this year Sikorsky will fly not one but three different aircraft…

Bell Update On ‘Amazing’ V-280

Bell Update On ‘Amazing’ V-280
Bell Update On ‘Amazing’ V-280

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…

‘Flying’ Sikorsky-Boeing’s SB>1 Defiant At AUSA

‘Flying’ Sikorsky-Boeing’s SB>1 Defiant At AUSA
‘Flying’ Sikorsky-Boeing’s SB>1 Defiant At AUSA

AUSA: Lockheed Martin company Sikorsky and teammate Boeing are taking a deliberate approach to building their prototype for the Army-led Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program, the SB>1 Defiant, officials told our contributor Richard Whittle when he visited their booth. Based on Sikorsky’s award-winning X2 technology demonstrator, the Defiant is a compound helicopter with coaxial rotors…