Bell unveiled the V-tailed aircraft, which looks straight out of Halo, last week at the
Farnborough International Airshow. It designed the machine for the US Army, which is looking
to replace its venerable and menacing V 22 Osprey with a next-gen vertical-lift darling
of Army aviation.
Compared with its official competition the V 22 Osprey, the Valor offers a serious upgrade
in combat range 920 miles, compared to 360 and top speed 350 mph instead
of 183,
along with the ability to deliver gear and soldiers into tight spaces.
That makes it just as fast as the Osprey, but even more long-legged (the V-22 Osprey
has a 426 mile combat radius).
So while it’s no direct threat to the Osprey,
The V-280 does that by combining the fixed wing aerodynamics of a plane with the rotors
and vertical capabilities of a helicopter.
Sure, the Osprey offered the same blend, and that ended up coming with a whole pile of
other problems. But in the 27 years since the Osprey's first flight, Bell has learned
a lot.
For starters, the V-280 will use a simpler rotor-tilting process.
Where the Osprey tilted the entire turbine engines to go between horizontal and vertical
flight, the V-280 will only shift its 35-foot rotors and forward drive shafts.
Furthermore, the V-280’s smaller size and weight coupled with its nearly identical rotor
diameter to the Osprey mean it will be able to take off and land with less effort,
kicking up less of the dust that can hamper pilot and crew visibility. It can also worm
into the engines, hurting power and long-term engine life.
The Osprey still holds the strength advantage, carrying roughly double the V-280's 14 soldiers
or 10,000 pounds of gear. But Bell says it can offer the V-280 for just $20 million a
pop. It's also pitching the tiltrotor to the Navy, offering a revised design that could
fit on cramped aircraft carrier decks and inside hangars.
The V-22 was originally designed to perform a ship to shore assault mission. The unique
capabilities of the aircraft have expanded the mission sets. The V-22 is an extremely
capable medium to heavy lift aircraft while the V-280 was purpose-built to support the
medium lift and long-range assault mission in demanding environments. The V-280 was designed
around the infantry squad. The basic fighting unit of the Army and Marine Corps."
"The V-280 has a slightly larger footprint than the UH-60. However, you get speeds and
ranges to fight against near-peer threats with unprecedented operational productivity.
You can’t win the fight unless you’re in the fight. As an example, if you put 10
UH-60s on a soccer field for an air assault, you can put 10 V-280s in that same field,
but you could execute missions with twice the speed and twice the range."
Bell which is working with Lockheed Martin here, needs to win the Pentagon's joint multi-role
technology demonstrator program competition. Boeing and Sikorsky are in the running with
a high-speed helicopter they call the SB-1 Defiant, also pegged to start flying late
next year.
Even if the Valor wins out, it won't render Marines’ Osprey instantly obsolete, Yes,
the V-22 had its problems early on: Four accidents during development left 30 people dead. But
the aircraft has since proven reliable and safe, if challenging for pilots. “The V-22
Osprey isn't controversial anymore," says Loren Thompson, a military analyst with the
Lexington Institute. “But it's still pricey, and the V-280 delivers all the versatility
of tiltrotor technology at a lower price."
The Army plans to choose one design in 2022, with the first assault helicopter units receiving
the new aircraft by 2030.
"I don't see the V-280 as the replacement for the V-22," Slife told reporters at the
Association of the Air Force's Air & Space Symposium.