The Bell V280 “Valor” chosen to replace the Black Hawk by the US military. The next evolution of the helicopter
Late Monday evening, the US Army awarded Textron Inc.'s Bell unit the contract to build the next-generation helicopter, ending years of fierce competition with Lockheed Martin Corp.-Boeing Co. to replace the aging fleet of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks by 2030.
The Army's “Future Vertical Lift” award went to Bell's V-280 Valor tiltrotor, similar to the V-22 Osprey. The new aircraft is capable of vertical take-off and landing like a helicopter, but rotates huge nose cones to fly like a fixed-wing aircraft at impressive speeds. Here is a video of the new US Army helicopter.
Thanks to the ability to rotate the engines, the V280 is able to reach the impressive speed for a helicopter of 519 km/h, against the 290 of its predecessor. Furthermore, the range varies from 930 to 1480 km, a respectable result.
“The unmatched combination of proven tiltrotor technology with innovative digital engineering and open architecture provides the Army with exceptional operational versatility for its fleet of vertical aircraft,” Bell said in a statement. We are honored that the United States Army has selected the Bell V-280 Valor as its next generation assault aircraft.”
“We intend to honor that trust by building a truly remarkable and transformative weapon system to meet the Army's mission requirements. We are excited to play an important role in the future of Army aviation,” said Scott C. Donnelly, president and chief executive officer of Textron.
In the competition, the Sikorsky – Boeing SB-1, another innovative helicopter with pusher propeller, was the loser.
Secretary of the Army, Hon. Ryan D. McCarthy, attends a Boeing-Sikorsky flight demo of the SB-1 Defiant, the SARA, and the S-97 Raider at the William P. Gwinn airport in West Palm Beach, FL, Feb. 20, 2020. (US Army photo by Sgt. Dana Clarke)
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The article The Bell V280 “Valor” chosen to replace the Black Hawk by the US military. The next evolution of the helicopter comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-bell-v280-valor-scelto-per-sostituire-il-black-hawk-dalle-forze-armate-usa-la-prossima-evoluzione-dellelicottero/ on Wed, 07 Dec 2022 10:00:13 +0000.