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 ...
Like the Osprey, I suppose it digs deeper holes more often.
My bad, read Osprey and got sideways.
I was in a CH-53 A/D squadron when the Osprey was in development; biggest boondoggle I ever saw IMO. Lost a bunch of good men for some congress-critter to force his pet project on the USMC.
And helicopters are aerodynamically limited in speed and altitude. Helicopters are easily detected and shot down, particularly in high intensity combat.
Helicopters are what biplanes were in the ‘40s
We have try to keep vertical takeoff and landing capabilities but advance the state of the art for a better and more survivable flight envelope
A Blackhawk is NOT a tilt rotor aircraft.
It looks like an easy target for any hand held shoulder fired missile.
tooo much on top for too little internal capacity and good luck getting that thing into a tight extraction LZ
Right. Pretty slow and cumbersome until it gains some height and re-points the props forward. I wonder what the top speed is or whether is has some chaff/flares to drop and distract RPGs or SAMs?
May as well add two more engines and fly it like a drone.
“...or whether is has some chaff/flares to drop and distract RPGs or SAMs?” [carriage_hill, post 29]
Won’t affect RPGs. Most are unguided: no homing capability to distract.
Aircraft losses to RPG fire are very small - chiefly in urban areas where ranges are short.
“...looks like an easy target for any hand held shoulder fired missile.” [Jmouse007, post 27]
Helicopters are even easier targets: they fly lower and slower. Less efficient, shorter in range, lower lifting capability also.
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