Posted on 10/21/2018 5:29:07 AM PDT by DFG
After six years of design, development and testing in Amarillo, the Bell V-280 Valor is now in residence at the company’s flight research center in Arlington. The aircraft, designed primarily to carry troops into combat, is Bell’s entrant to replace the more than two thousand Blackhawk helicopters now in service with the U.S. Army.
Bell, headquartered in Fort Worth, is competing against a Sikorsky/Boeing design in the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration. The two designs are radically different. The Valor is a tiltrotor, similar to the V-22 Osprey, which has been in service with the Marines for more than a decade. But the V-280 is “simpler, more reliable and more affordable” than the Osprey, said project manager Ryan Ehinger,
“It’s a clean sheet design,” Ehinger said.
He said V-22 Marine pilots and engineers have been in residence in Amarillo since day one of the Valor project, advising on potential improvements over the Osprey. The V-280 will carry a dozen troops into battle, half as many as the Osprey. Large side doors make it easier to get out of the aircraft and into combat.
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
The Osprey-lite.
A tilt-rotor is not a helicopter.
That is one ugly airframe.
Weird-looking bird...
I bet it goes further, faster. That’s the only reason why I would think they would promote this, “thing.”
Blackhawk is a tilt-rotor C130 - absolute workhorse, multi-configuration flexibility.
Needs much bigger engines and drive rotors compared to the cargo compartment. Those things have to suck more fuel than an M-1 tank in the fast lane on the Autobahn. Good Grief, I’ll take the Huey and catch up!
The Blackhawk is a conventional single rotor helicopter, not a tiltrotor
“Boeing/Sikorsky has yet to unveil their SB-1 Defiant demonstrator for this project.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh7F3PvqOl0 AUSA 2016: Flying the SB 1 DEFIANT Sikorsky-Boeing (FVL Prog)
https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/sb1-defiant-technology-demonstrator.html
At the risk of sounding my usual skeptical self I'm guessing that the cost of these new Osprey-Lite birds are going to be 2-12x the cost of the Blackhawks they are intended to replace?
As usual, some top brass is lining his retirement funds at the cost of soldiers lives?
You mean like this?
or this? 
>> I bet it goes further, faster. <<
Close to twice the speed, and twice the range, of the Blackhawk, which is why they’re looking at it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_V-280_Valor#Specifications
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_UH-60_Black_Hawk#Specifications_(UH-60L)
How's that gear work hold up in a sand environment?
Recent forest fires near our house attracted BLM aircraft to fight them. A 50 yr old Huey was among them. Reckon the Blackhawk also has a few more years of active life left in it.
The Sikorsky Boeing is a far superior platform. It has dual roters and a pusher prop.
My bad, was thinking Osprey.
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