Tango01  | 20 Dec 2017 10:22 p.m. PST |
…For The First Time. "Bell Helicopter's next-generation tilt-rotor aircraft, the V-280 Valor, has made its first flight, the company announced in a release Monday. The black prototype, which resembles the older V-22 Osprey, also made by Textron Inc.'s Bell unit and Boeing Co., completed the roughly maiden flight around 2 p.m. local time at the company's Amarillo, Texas, facility, according to the company. "This is an exciting time for Bell Helicopter, and I could not be more proud of the progress we have made with first flight of the Bell V-280," Mitch Snyder, president and chief executive officer of Bell Helicopter, said in a statement…."
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| 15mm and 28mm Fanatik | 21 Dec 2017 8:13 a.m. PST |
Looks like the cab of a Blackhawk with the tilt rotors of an Osprey. |
 Dentatus   | 21 Dec 2017 9:57 a.m. PST |
It does, doesn't it? Good eye. |
| General Kirchner | 21 Dec 2017 10:58 a.m. PST |
thought the same thing……. |
| Tango01 | 21 Dec 2017 10:59 a.m. PST |
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| paulgenna | 21 Dec 2017 11:28 a.m. PST |
If is saves on development costs and does the mission then a smart move for all parties. |
| Lion in the Stars | 21 Dec 2017 4:22 p.m. PST |
The US Army doesn't seem to be too interested in tilt-rotors, though. Probably because the USAF will try to claim them (particularly the armed versions). Besides, the Sikorsky SB1 Defiant needs a smaller footprint in the landing zone. |
| 14th NJ Vol | 21 Dec 2017 5:04 p.m. PST |
Tilting the rotor blades vs. the entire engine nacelles like the V22 is a good move.
Hope the Army gives this a shot, even if only for a med-a-vac. |
 McKinstry | 21 Dec 2017 5:16 p.m. PST |
As with the two LCS variants, I'm betting we see both the Valor and Defiant in production. Call it a mix of pork barrel politics and hopefully, an abandonment of the swiss army knife approach to platforms. |
| Lion in the Stars | 22 Dec 2017 4:35 p.m. PST |
@14th NJ Vol: Well, it puts your complications into a different spot. Tilting engines need fancier lubrication systems (though milspec turbine lube systems are good for strange g-loads and directions for an extended period of time). Tilting rotors alone need a fancy transmission. I'm a big fan of KISS design, so put me down for tilting engines (or whole wings) in tiltrotors, and coaxial (SB1 and Russia's Kamov) or eggbeater rotors (Kaman K-Max) in compound helos. |
