Bell V-280 tilt rotor

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https://youtu.be/_MGf1027pBM

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Bell V-280 Valor Prepping for Flight-test Program
by Matt Thurber
 - February 10, 2017, 4:00 AM

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2017-02-10/bell-v-280-valor-prepping-flight-test-program

In a well-guarded hangar tucked away on the Bell Helicopter campus at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport in Texas, a tightly knit team of dedicated technicians and engineers is putting the final touches on Bell’s next-generation tiltrotor, the V-280 Valor. If all goes as planned, the V-280, which was about 93 percent complete in late January, will fly sometime around September this year.

Designed to fulfill a requirement for new cost-effective and more efficient aircraft for the U.S. Department of Defense’s Future Vertical Lift program, the V-280 is the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD), “the flagship program anchoring the Army Aviation science and technology portfolio,” according to the Army.

Bell leveraged its experience with the V-22—also built in Amarillo—in designing the V-280. Both share design features such as composite wings and other structural elements, but there are significant differences that are apparent when viewing the two aircraft. The V-22 is much larger and capable of carrying a maximum of 32 passengers plus at least three crewmembers, while the V-280 can fit 14 passengers and four crew. The Navy and Marines required a rear ramp for loading/unloading, which adds complexity and weight to the V-22, but the crew enter and exit the V-280 via six-foot-wide fuselage doors under the wings. Also adding complexity to the V-22 is the gigantic spherical bearing mounted under the center wing section and the folding proprotors, which allows the V-22 to fold into a compact and more easily stored unit. The V-280’s wing is fixed to the fuselage, and its proprotors are about a foot shorter than the V-22’s.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two aircraft is the way the proprotors tilt. On the V-22, the engines tilt up and down to provide the craft’s unique vertical lift and horizontal flight modes. The V-280’s engines are mounted in the nacelles and do not tilt. According to Bell, “The output shaft is connected to the drive system through a spiral bevel gearbox that transfers power to the fixed gearbox and proprotor gearbox, which rotates on two big spherical bearings driven by a conversion actuator mechanism.” The V-280’s tilting gearbox design vastly simplifies the V-22’s complex hydro-mechanical clockwork that provides the necessary tiltrotor action.

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Critical Tests Approaching for Bell Helicopter’s V-280 Valor
4/11/2017
By Yasmin Tadjdeh   

http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2017/4/11/critical-tests-approaching-for-bell-helicopters-v280-valor

AMARILLO, Texas — With 95 percent of Bell Helicopter’s V-280 Valor aircraft built, the company is preparing for critical tests this summer and fall, said a company executive April 10.

Ground testing is slated for July and the Valor’s first flight is scheduled for September, said Jeff Josselyn, Bell’s V-280 assembly leader.

The company has offered the Valor to the Army for its joint multi-role technology demonstration. A Sikorsky-Boeing team is building the SB-1 Defiant. The demonstration is a precursor to the future vertical lift program, which is still in its infancy, and aims to eventually replace thousands of helicopters in the late 2020s and 2030s with a new vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

The Valor is based on Bell’s tiltrotor aircraft, the V-22 Osprey, Josselyn told reporters during a media trip at the company’s Amarillo, Texas, factory.

“We believe this is a game changer and will bring just phenomenal capability to our Army customer,” he said. It will offer “increased speed, agility, payload, performance … all at a cost that’s commensurate to what … [the government is] currently spending on our special missions Black Hawks and Apaches.”

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Bell Helicopter expects V-280 tilt-rotor to fly in September
 
Bell Helicopter’s newest tilt-rotor is almost ready for its first flight.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/baker-ahles-kaskovich/article147500579.html#storylink=cpy

[Ayoshi]

From: The Aviationist - Aug 30 2017

Here Are The First Images Of The First Bell V-280 Valor Next-Generation Tilt-Rotor Aircraft Prototype


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N280BH at Amarillo is being prepared for engine tests.

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Kill Army Helo Upgrades & Build Super Chopper: Bell V-280 Exec
By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.
on September 29, 2017 at 1:50 PM

https://breakingdefense.com/2017/09/kill-army-helo-upgrades-build-super-chopper-bell-v-280-exec/

AMARILLO, TEX.: Bell Helicopter is so confident in their new V-280 tilt-rotor prototype that they want the Pentagon to accelerate the Future Vertical Lift program – which they think the V-280 will win – by “five to eight years.”

That would pull production of the first FVL variant, a faster and longer-ranged replacement for Army UH-60s and Marine UH-1s, from the 2030s to as early as 2025.

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[Ayoshi]

Bell Helicopter's V-280 tiltrotor aircraft is airborne | Air Recognition - 19 December 2017

Bell Helicopter yesterday announced that its V-280 Valor has achieved first flight. The V-280 Valor is a next-generation tiltrotor that is designed to provide unmatched agility, speed, range and payload capabilities at an affordable cost. This milestone represents exceptional progress on the V-280 development program and brings Bell Helicopter one step closer to creating the next generation of vertical lift aircraft for the U.S. military.

The Bell V-280 Valor yesterday achieved its first flight (Credit: Bell Helicopter)

[Ayoshi]

US Army pilot flies V-280 Valor for the first time | Air Recognition -  14 February 2018

Bell Helicopter's Air Vehicle Concept Demonstrator aircraft, funded under the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration program, was flown for the first time by an US Army pilot Feb. 7, the AMRDEC Public Affairs said on Feb. 12, 2018.

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During the flight, he performed Hover In Ground Effect repositioning, pattern flight and roll-on landings.

The JMR TD is an Army science & technology effort designed to develop, expand and demonstrate new capabilities in vertical lift technology. The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center leads the JMR TD effort. It is a precursor to the Department of Defense Future Vertical Lift program.

Bell Helicopter's V-280 tiltrotor aircraft (Credit: Bell Helicopter)

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The V-280 tilt-rotor aircraft could change the way air assault troops operate
By: Kyle Rempfer

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/03/01/the-v-280-tilt-rotor-aircraft-could-change-the-way-air-assault-troops-operate/

Bell’s V-280 Valor tilt-rotor aircraft should be a welcome addition to units conducting fast rope insertions, rappelling, or any other air assault operation, company officials said.

“This will carry a squad of Army soldiers, or a squad of Marines, to an assault area faster and increase the lethality compared to the V-22 [Osprey], which is a larger platform and more of a utility aircraft,” said Jeff Schloesser, a retired Army major general and executive vice president of strategic pursuits for Bell’s Washington operations.

Schloesser spoke to Army Times Thursday during the National Defense Industrial Association’s annual special operations/low-intensity conflict symposium and exhibition in Arlington, Virginia.


Beyond the increased functionality, it should be more comfortable, too. Troops who have used the Fast Rope Insertion Extraction System, or FRIES, on a V-22 can probably recall the intense rotor wash and engine heat pounding them while trying to grip the rope on insertion.

Because the V-280’s wing doesn’t tilt like a V-22, a necessity for shipboard operations, fast-ropers leaving the aircraft’s side-door avoid “the hot air from the engine going out backwards,” Schloesser said.

“Essentially, what you got is two six-foot doors, you just slide your fast rope bar out, and out you go, and this [wing placement] protects you from that downwash,” he added.

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Test flight of new Bell V-280 aircraft; military contract could spell more jobs for Amarillo
Tuesday, July 31st 2018, 8:37 pm PDT
By Mike Makie, Reporter

http://www.newschannel10.com/story/38781437/test-flight-of-new-bell-v-280-aircraft-military-contract-could-spell-more-jobs-for-amarillo

AMARILLO, TX (KFDA) - Bell held its first public demonstration of a new military aircraft it hopes will help land a contract and bring dozens of jobs to Amarillo.

 "This is a brand new aircraft," said Bell Executive Vice-President Robert Hastings. "It is not a V-22. It is designed from the ground up, brand new, we are breaking through technologies."

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Bell marks anniversary of V-280 Valor’s first flight
Posted on December 18, 2018; Bell Press Release

https://www.verticalmag.com/press-releases/bell-marks-anniversary-of-v-280-valors-first-flight/

Bell, a Textron Inc. company, and Team Valor marked the anniversary of the V-280 Valor’s first flight by continuing to prove the aircraft’s performance and technical maturity. As part of the U.S. Army-led Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) program, the V-280 demonstrates that close collaboration between government and industry can deliver transformational speed, range and agility in vertical lift, in a fast and sustainable process.

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Bell V-280 Valor Reaches 80 Knots
Published on Feb 6, 2018

The Bell V-280 Valor reached a flight speed of 80 knots and is flying at an altitude of 1,000 feet above ground level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK7eX4s8YIg

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[Ayoshi]

https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/defence-helicopter/gkn-delivers-thermoplastic-parts-v-280-valor/

GKN delivers thermoplastic parts for V-280 Valor
25th June 2019 - 11:30 GMT

The parts include a pair of thermoplastic composite, induction-welded ruddervators - the control surfaces for an aircraft with a V-tail configuration – and two compression-moulded access panels manufactured from re-used thermoplastic waste material.

As a partner on Bell’s Team Valor for the US Army programme, GKN Aerospace has designed and manufactured the complete thermoset composite V-Tail for the Bell V-280, which will make it one of the first military aircraft to fly with thermoplastic components.

[Ayoshi]

https://www.janes.com/article/92061/bell-plans-v-280-autonomy-demonstration-in-2019

Bell plans V-280 autonomy demonstration in 2019
21 October 2019

Key Points
* Bell is planning an autonomy demonstration with its V-280 later this year where it will perform a set of tasks with no human involved, other than a safety pilot
* The company is completing its mission capability demos

Bell is planning an external-load demo with the V-280 that will place an operationally relevant load underneath the aircraft to demonstrate capability for the US Army's Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) procurement. Source: Bell

[Ayoshi]

https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/01/09/bell-v-280-flies-autonomously-for-first-time/

Bell V-280 flies autonomously for first time

ARLINGTON, Texas — Bell’s V-280 Valor tilt-rotor demonstrator flew autonomously for the first time Dec. 18 at the company’s Arlington, Texas, facility during two sorties.

Over the course of the day, the V-280 met all of Bell’s flight goals for the aircraft’s first venture into flying autonomously.

The V-280 performed an autonomous takeoff, conversion into cruise mode, precision navigation to various waypoints, loiter maneuvers, conversion into vertical-takeoff-and-landing mode, and landed autonomously, Ryan Ehinger, Bell’s program manager for the V-280, told reporters at a company demonstration of the aircraft in Arlington on Jan. 8.

Bell’s V-280 Valor tilt-rotor aircraft could be a welcome addition to units conducting fast rope insertions, rappelling or any other air assault operation. (Bell)

[Ayoshi]

Bell V-280 Valor team selected to continue in future long-range assault aircraft competition | Army Recognition - 17 March 2020 07:37

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, has been selected as a project agreement holder for the competitive demonstration and risk reduction (CD&RR) effort as part of the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. Under the agreement, Bell will deliver a refined V-280 Valor design, with supporting technical documentation, that builds on the data captured during the more than two years and 170 hours of flight testing under the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration (JMR TD) program to inform the FLRAA program of record.

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This contract follows the successful U.S. Army led JMR TD program. As part of that program, Bell managed collaboration with the twelve leading companies that make up Team Valor to enable rapid production, systems integration, and deliberate program schedule to validate the V-280’s flight capabilities and operational relevance. The V-280 achieved all program goals, demonstrating its speed by flying above 300 knots and demonstrating low-speed agility attitude quickness per ADS-33F-PRF. These characteristics are important to inform FLRAA program requirements to ensure the program will help warfighters meet the challenges of future multi-domain fights.

Bell V-280 Valor (Picture source: Bell Textron)