Posted on 12/05/2022 4:46:31 PM PST by e_castillo
PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Textron Inc (NYSE: TXT) announced today that Bell Textron Inc., a Textron company, has been awarded the development contract for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. The award is based on Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor that was developed and tested as part of the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program that began in 2013. The V-280 progressed through design, manufacturing, and more than three years of rigorous flight testing that provided extensive data validating the technical and operational advantages of the aircraft for the long-range assault mission.
"We are honored that the U.S. Army has selected the Bell V-280 Valor as its next-generation assault aircraft," said Scott C. Donnelly, Textron’s chairman and chief executive officer. "We intend to honor that trust by building a truly remarkable and transformational weapon system to meet the Army’s mission requirements. We are excited to play an important role in the future of Army Aviation."
“This is an exciting time for the U.S. Army, Bell, and Team Valor as we modernize the Army’s aviation capabilities for decades to come,” said Mitch Snyder, president and CEO of Bell. “Bell has a long history supporting Army Aviation and we are ready to equip Soldiers with the speed and range they need to compete and win using the most mature, reliable, and affordable high-performance long-range assault weapon system in the world.”
This award builds on a decade of the V-280 Valor’s progress through design, manufacturing, and thorough testing to demonstrate that this aircraft will deliver on the FLRAA program requirements. Bell and its industry partners have systematically validated the V-280 aircraft and their modular open systems approach in collaboration with the Army.
The initial contract refines the weapon system design, sustainment, digital enterprise, manufacturing, systems integration, flight-testing, and airworthiness qualification.
(Excerpt) Read more at businesswire.com ...
The range is 2100 miles.
Combat range (there and back and over target) is 800.
Been working on it for the last year + as a supplier - bummer
On to NGAD probably
Long ago, actually. The Osprey is less lethal to fly per flight hour than the CH-46 it replaces.
Simplified - it doesn’t have to have the complex pivot/fold mechanism that the Osprey has due to its naval role. This one doesn’t even pivot the engines and the wing is fixed in place.
This is a smaller and simpler descendant of the Osprey. If bought in projected volumes, it will also be considerably cheaper.
The V-280 cannot replace the Osprey and the Osprey would be a bad replacement for a V-280. They’re similar looking aircraft but with different roles.
One thing that needs to be noted - a tilt rotor is considerably more quiet than a conventional helicopter until it gets to the LZ. Something to be considered for operational concerns.
Thx for the link. I spent a few minutes looking for flight videos of the defiant and couldn’t find anything other than low speed.
“One thing that needs to be noted - a tilt rotor is considerably more quiet than a conventional helicopter until it gets to the LZ. Something to be considered for operational concerns.”
Odd, the Osprey sounds a lot louder to me than a Blackhawk does.
One other problem with the Osprey is that when you tilt the engine up in desert environments the dust cloud gets sucked in to the engines. Think of the dust cloud as a giant donut with the engine vertical in the center.
That problem causes engine life to be shortened by 2/3.
Thereby almost tripling maintenance costs.
In the 280 the engine stays horizontal and sucks in much less dust.
You forgot /S
Naw, just drop a daisy cutter ;^)
Why try another tilt rotor after the Army rejected the V22 Osprey? Because thirty more years of experience, technological development, and testing have led to a new model tilt rotor that meets the Army’s needs.
Thanks. I think we’re on the same page with our thoughts.
It looks like the V-280 has a rather long range role.
I live in DFW, and there’s a Bell development site in the area along with military bases - plus they make the Osprey just up the road in Amarillo. As a result, military helis and Ospreys are a not uncommon sight in the area, both on the ground and in the air.
When in the hover or at slow speed operations with the nacelles tilted up, the Osprey is about as loud as a CH-46 or -47. In level flight with the nacelles in full forward position, they’re surprisingly quiet - they’re quieter than a UH-60 or even the local police or newscopters. They’re also much faster in level flight.
The Sikorsky-Boeing offer also needed a vaporware engine to meet the range requirements of the contract. The engine needed does not yet exist, though it will soon (been in development hell for a while).
It’s just what Bell is calling it - the Army is likely to assign it another name.
Correct.
I worked at Bell from 1965-Dec 2001. During the development of the XV-15 tilt rotor aircraft (proof of concept of the technology), we occasionally were invited to the flight line to see a short airshow. In fast forward flight the aircraft was silent until it was right overhead at about 200 feet.
There is one of the two XV-15s in the Smithsonian Air&Space museum in DC. The other was wiped out by a tornado at our Flight Test facility in Arlington TX.
A few years ago, a flight of several V-22s flew from the US East Coast to Africa and later made the return transit. In-flight refueling made that possible.
It’s very quiet when in forward flight. When hovering or taking off it does make noise.
Didn’t the Osprey have a problem of burning up the carrier deck while idling? How was that solved?
Not aware of that happening regarding the V-22.
Perhaps you’re thinking of the F-35.
They were saying since the exhaust was at 90 degrees from the deck while idling it was burning up coatings/coverings.
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