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The V-280 Valor comes in for a roll-on landing during its first public flight demonstration at Bell's Amarillo, Texas, production facility. (Jen Judson/Staff)
Posted on 12/05/2022 2:54:57 PM PST by BenLurkin
After years of development, prototyping and test flights, the Army today announced that Bell Textron’s Valor tiltrotor has won its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition to be the successor to the aging UH-60 Black Hawk and a key component of the Army’s future force.
The announcement gives Bell a massive victory not just in America but with the global community of 28 Black Hawk operators, many of whom are likely to follow the US Army’s lead when looking for a replacement in the future.
The exact requirements the service laid out for the aircraft remain closely held, but allowed the companies to produce two strikingly different designs: Bell’s tiltrotor Valor aircraft against Sikorsky-Boeing’s coaxial rotor Defiant X.
The V-280 Valor comes in for a roll-on landing during its first public flight demonstration at Bell's Amarillo, Texas, production facility. (Jen Judson/Staff)
(Excerpt) Read more at breakingdefense.com ...
Yep.... That’s what gets us an F-35 and a B-1 as a CAS platform. And the same mentality thinks Blackhawks need 2500 mile range and WWII fighter speeds.
It’s a truck, pounding down on some dirt road or in a jungle clearing.
I guessing that the flight control system is fly-by-wire and transition in both directions is done by flipping a switch.
Jewbacca...what say ye?
Don’t tell me. 10 times the cost and half the reliability. At least 5 extra years to actually fly one.
I remember the Army quietly taking the Cobras back from the NGs to send to Saudi because the Apache’s rotors kept delaminating.
The Defiant X definitely inherited some design features from the Cheyenne(??)...
Actually a bit difficult to understand this one, absent significant political intervention.
Tilt Rotor? Sounds great for tactical deployment. But, globally, what has been the survivability of other tilt rotor aircraft in close air support?
Hope it all works out, but...
Looks like it will be expensive to maintain.
But that’s probably the point.
I’m sure that these must be EV machines.../s
2,000 lbs of batteries will be no problem...
Charging cables will be 1,500 feet long so they wont have to land to recharge...
And yet we will continue to pay too much for similar design flaws.
It’s a triple redundant fly-by-wire, yes.
(For full disclosure, I’ve sat co-pilot a number of times in this craft. I hate all rotary aircraft, but this one is tolerable. No learning curve like a true helicopter.)
I also think they will make an attack helicopter out of this same platform that will make both the A-10 and Apache people happy.
Biggest thing is the number of support personnel needed to keep the thing flying.
**I also think they will make an attack helicopter out of this same platform that will make both the A-10 and Apache people happy.**
So an AA battery damages a blade on one of the rotors/props, then what?
Give me the A-10.
Bummer - Defiant is an awesome aircraft. I've been on this program for a little while, but luckily still retain my old job.
Bell's Tilt-rotor has a much larger footprint and not as easily air-transported.
Another lawn dart.
I surmise that better mechanicals, flight control system, and handling characteristics than the Osprey are part of the new design. As far as I can tell, the Valor also offers greater speed, payload, and range than the current Blackhawk, the Osprey, and the Defiant competitor. It may be too much to hope, but the Valor will mark a genuine advance in aviation if it performs as promised and tames the notoriously tricky tiltrotor.
Radar profile like a flying amuzement park ride.
One of my favorite sci-fi movies!
...and able to refuel from fixed wing aircraft, fly to higher altitudes than a helicopter, and burn less fuel to travel the same distances.
You made me curious!
Then it flies and lands just like the A10.
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