BELL V 280 VALOR DRIVERS
“A lot of your critical items, your gearboxes and your blades … those are typical cost drivers downstream and today, we still have the original six blades and gearboxes on this aircraft. “This configuration of tiltrotor really shows how robust it is in terms of reliability and availability because one of the tricks with proving that is you have to accumulate enough data to show that you do have a reliable system,” he said. Over the course of the technology demonstration period, Flail added, the aircraft was also able to show its reliability and availability. “During a single sortie, the team performed multiple cargo lifts to demonstrate the procedure and coordination of ground crew, aircraft, crew chief, pilots and the behavior of the loads for the V-280,” the statement notes. In the same flight, Bell demonstrated sling-load capability, Flail said.
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BELL V 280 VALOR SKIN
Other achievements include demonstrating an integrated system from Lockheed Martin that provides the pilots and aircrew a 360-degree view through the skin of the aircraft in the spring of 2019.Īnd in early 2020, Bell also integrated the Tactical Common Data Link and transmitted information between Valor and the ground station to include basic flight data and showed it would be able to provide targeting information to help long-range precision fires weapons hit targets more accurately, according to a Dec. The aircraft performed an autonomous takeoff, conversion into cruise mode, precision navigation to various waypoints, loiter maneuvers, conversion into vertical-takeoff-and-landing mode, and landed autonomously. Valor flew autonomously for the first time a year ago. In May 2019, the aircraft completed low-speed agility maneuver testing - which made up the final key performance parameters left to prove out with the system as part of the technology demonstration phase.
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The aircraft had its first public flight in June 2018 where it reached cruising speeds of 195 knots and was put through its paces in hover mode. Valor has been put through its paces, completing key performance parameters and continuing to prove out possible threshold and objective requirements for FLRAA. The Army announced this month that it intends to proceed into a competition between just Sikorsky-Boeing and Bell to produce FLRAA. Creators of the V-280 envisioned a new tiltrotor configuration able to blend airplane-like speeds with a helicopter-like ability to hover and maneuver close to the ground.
BELL V 280 VALOR PROFESSIONAL
The aircraft was officially unveiled at the 2013 Army Aviation Association of America's (AAAA) Annual Professional Forum and Exposition in Fort Worth, Texas.
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The SB-1 Defiant coaxial helicopter flew for the first time in March 2019 after struggling with rotor blade manufacturing problems and working through other more minor kinks.īoth companies have entered a competitive development and risk reduction phase awarded in March 2020 ahead of the FLRAA program. Bell V-280 As one of two prominent industry offerings along with Boeing-Sikorsky’s Defiant X, Bell’s V-280 represents an effort to engineer new, paradigm-changing tiltrotor technology. The Bell V-280 Valor is a tiltrotor aircraft being developed by Bell and Lockheed Martin for the United States Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program.
![bell v 280 valor bell v 280 valor](https://www.uasvision.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Bell-V-280-Valor-Future-Vertical-Lift.jpg)
Rolls-Royce is the 12th company joining Team Valor, which includes the following companies: Bell Astronics Eaton GKN Aerospace IAI Lockheed Martin LORD MOOG Spirit AeroSystems TRU Simulation and General Electric.The Army wants to field FLRAA - an aircraft expected to fly twice as fast and twice as far as a conventional helicopter - by 2030.īell is gearing up to compete head-to-head with a Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky and Boeing team, which built the only other flying technology demonstrator in the effort leading up to a program of record. "Bell and Team Valor members are applying our collective vertical flight expertise to create aircraft capable of delivering a transformational capability to soldiers." "We are excited to work with Rolls-Royce to deliver a propulsion system that integrates game-changing performance with life-cycle affordability from the start to help our customers achieve their goals," Ryan Ehinger, Bell's vice president and program director for FLRAA said in a statement accompanying the press release. In addition to the propulsion system, Rolls-Royce will provide an advanced infrared suppressor system for the V-280 Valor. Rolls-Royce will provide the propulsion system for Bell's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft offering, the V-280 Valor, according to a June 21 company press release.īell is currently in a two-year competitive demonstration and risk-reduction phase for the competition alongside Sikorsky.Ī downselect is expected in 2022 for FLRAA, a part of the Army's Future Vertical Lift modernization priority.īell earlier this year gave reporters a snapshot of the V-280 Valor during a piloted demonstration at the company's flight research center in Arlington, TX: speeds up to 300 knots, autonomous flying capabilities, 2G acceleration turns and more than 160 logged flight hours.