Bell V-280 Valor

V-280 Valor Anniversary Tour?

With its first year of flight tests finished, Bell just might take its V-280 Valor aircraft on tour. That’s how confident the company is in its new tiltrotor, the proposed high-speed replacement for thousands of Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and Marine Corps UH-1Z Super Hueys...

https://breakingdefense.com/2018/12/bel ... sary-tour/

Looks like half Osprey and half Blackhawk? Nonetheless, should be another war winner for the US!

Looks like half Osprey and half Blackhawk? Nonetheless, should be another war winner for the US!

It's not a slam dunk yet. There is still the matter of it's competitor (if it ever flies).

I see a buy of both aircraft. SB-1 for attack and light variants of FVL, V-280 for medium/utility. Navy will probably also hop on converting an SB-1 variant for eventual MH-60 replacement. Both aircraft have their strengths and there has to be some competition for military helos. SB-1 definitely has some growing pains right now, but do we honestly think Sikorsky (aka Lockheed) can’t pull it off? I know where my money is...

I see a buy of both aircraft. SB-1 for attack and light variants of FVL, V-280 for medium/utility. Navy will probably also hop on converting an SB-1 variant for eventual MH-60 replacement. Both aircraft have their strengths and there has to be some competition for military helos. SB-1 definitely has some growing pains right now, but do we honestly think Sikorsky (aka Lockheed) can’t pull it off? I know where my money is...

Oh, I know it'll fly. Just annoyed they are SO far behind Bell at the moment.

Anybody know of a picture with the V-22 and V-280 in formation? I can't find one but it seems like that would be high on Bell's marketing team list.

Only photo I've seen with both in it is this one, which isn't terribly flattering (in terms of angles, lighting, distance, etc):


https://i.imgur.com/SATVnfi.jpg

It's not a slam dunk yet. There is still the matter of it's competitor (if it ever flies).

That's not the SB-1 Defiant. That's the Raider. Completely different aircraft.

That's not the SB-1 Defiant. That's the Raider. Completely different aircraft.

...and the S-97 has been consistently late (even disregarding the crash which was not a fault of X2 technology itself) on meeting goals. I also suspect that in one year the V-280 has more flight hours than the S-97 has had in 3 1/2 years.

That's not the SB-1 Defiant. That's the Raider. Completely different aircraft.

...and the S-97 has been consistently late (even disregarding the crash which was not a fault of X2 technology itself) on meeting goals. I also suspect that in one year the V-280 has more flight hours than the S-97 has had in 3 1/2 years.

The X2 is still a relatively new platform. V-280 has had the benefit of the V-22 experience. As long as Sikorsky solves the problems in time for the competition, the delays shouldn't be a problem.

V-280 hits 280 plus

https://breakingdefense.com/2019/01/bel ... s-program/

V-280 hits 280 plus

https://breakingdefense.com/2019/01/bel ... s-program/

Looking pretty good for the Bell team at this point.

Bell V-280 flies with system that can see through aircraft

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Bell’s experimental V-280 Valor tiltrotor, built for a U.S. Army technology demonstration, has flown for the first time with an integrated system that provides the pilots and aircrew a 360-degree view through the skin of the aircraft.

At the Army Aviation Association of America’s annual summit, Lockheed Martin displayed footage collected from its Pilotage Distributed Aperture System’s first flight over central Texas on the V-280.

PDAS “is the first fully integrated tactical distributed aperture system in the history of vertical lift,” Rita Flaherty, Lockheed Martin vice president of strategy and business development within its Missiles and Fire Control business, said at the summit...

The view of the outside of the aircraft is collected and can be processed onto a screen or display. At AAAA, Lockheed used a pair of inexpensive goggles ordered from Amazon, but anything from a helmet-mounted display to a tablet could be used to see what the sensors see.

The system is designed so that a soldier in the back of the aircraft using a tablet could look in a completely different place or direction as the pilot, for instance.

The system would also use imagery that is normally discarded, and rather layer that information over a database to create actionable intelligence regarding flight paths, Flaherty noted as an example.

The company also views PDAS as a mission-planning tool, receiving real-time actionable intelligence. For instance, a squad in the back of a helicopter might want to know about last-minute changes or have an immediate understanding of where they are relative to the objective, or what is in the landing zone. PDAS would help them see everything in real time as they land, according to Flaherty.

PDAS isn’t just designed for the V-280, Flaherty noted: “We are platform agnostic, and it’s also backwards compatible to the current fleet.”...

https://www.defensenews.com/digital-sho ... -aircraft/