(Washington) On the 5th of December 2022, the US army announced the Bell Textron's V-280 Valor Tiltrotor as the winner of its Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRA) competition (which itself was part of the Future Vertical Lift program).
So what is the Future Vertical Lift program?
During the latter part of the US military’s involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq,
The U.S. Department of Defence found that the U.S. Army's rotorcraft fleet was
wearing out. Combat operations resulted in helicopters flying five times more
often than during peacetime. For years, manufacturers have been remanufacturing and
upgrading existing families of aircraft without creating original platforms. So
the DoD came up with the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program where they would create
a new rotorcraft family utilising new technologies, materials, and designs that are
quicker, have longer ranges and higher payload capacities, more reliable,
easier to maintain and operate, have lower operating costs, and can reduce
logistical footprints. creating a family of systems to replace most Army
helicopters. Currently that stands at five classes:
- JMR-Light: Scout version to replace the OH-58 Kiowa.
- JMR-Medium-Light.
- JMR-Medium: Utility and attack versions to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache aka Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft
- JMR-Heavy: Cargo version to replace the CH-47 Chinook.
- JMR-Ultra: New ultra-sized version for vertical lift aircraft with performance similar to fixed-wing tactical transport aircraft, such as the C-130J Super Hercules and the Airbus A400M Atlas.
So, the V-280 Valor, designed by the company which gave the world the original tilt rotor the V-22 Osprey which has been in service since 2007 with over 400 built.
A somewhat troublesome aircraft which has seen 13 Hull losses resulting in 51 fatalities. So what Bell did was iron out all the issues which plagued the V-22. Coming up with a much more reliable aircraft the main visible differences been having the Propellers tilt and not the entire engine and large side doors rather than the rear ramp of the V-22, inside borrowing tech from the F35 program, sensors have been placed around the aircraft allowing the pilot to see around the outside of aircraft from the comfort of his helmet
As mentioned the V 280 will replace the Army's current fleet of UH-60 Black Hawks (around 2000). It will carry 12 soldiers at a speed of around 320 mph out to a range of around 900 miles and at a stroke outperform by a huge margin every other assault helicopter in use around the world. For example, China’s new assault helicopter the Harbin Z-20 which became operational in 2019 is based on the UH-60 Blackhawk, the aircraft the US is replacing with the V-280. A craft the US started operating in 1979.
