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| Bell V-280 Valor |
The Bell V-280 Valor Tiltrotor aircraft was chosen by the United States Army to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The Sikorsky and Boeing Defiant X coaxial helicopters are outperformed by Bell's aircraft.
The Valor will replace Sikorsky's UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in the mid-2030s. For more than four decades, the legendary Black Hawk has been the workhorse utility helicopter of the United States Army.
The Valor, also known as the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA), has been subjected to extensive flight testing over the course of several years. The initial contract was for $232 million, and it only included the final digital design and development over a five-year period, not the actual aircraft.
Major General Robert Barrie, the Army's program executive officer for aviation, says that contracts with the option to build real planes are worth $1.2 billion. Then increase it to $7 billion to start building the fleet.
The US Army hasn't said why it chose Sikorsky's pusher-compound-rotor design with X2 technology over Bell's tiltrotor design for the Valor.
According to Barrie, the decision was based on the best value proposition. "The best value in the truest sense is a comprehensive analysis of various factors." "The variables are performance, cost, and schedule," said Barrie, as quoted from The War Zone page on Tuesday, June 12, 2022.
Bell scored a significant victory when the US Army chose the V-280 Valor. "This is an exciting time for the US Army, Bell, and Team Valor as it modernizes the Army's aviation capabilities," said Mitch Snyder, President and CEO of Bell.
During testing, Valor logged hundreds of flight hours and reached a top speed of 280 knots, or around 518 km per hour. Conventional helicopters are incapable of approaching that speed; even the Valor is thought to be capable of reaching speeds of 300 knots, or 555 km per hour.
Valor took her first flight on December 18, 2017, and she has since logged over 200 hours in the air. The Army set a number of aggressive speed and agility targets for the Valor as part of its Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration (JMR-TD) program.
Bell tested the Valor for three and a half years before bringing it to a halt in 2021. The Bell-Boeing V-22 aircraft with tilting nacelles was replaced by the V-280 tiltrotor.
Bell was able to improve its tiltrotor technology with the specially made V-280 Valor because of this victory. Valor prioritizes maintainability and affordability in its design.
