Army & Bell Explore a New Generation of Tiltrotor Aircraft

By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

Soldiers and Marines badly hit by enemy fire often have only a short time window during which airlift MEDEVAC can save their life, yet airlifting injured service members in combat presents a set of complex and interwoven challenges. Airplane speeds are necessary to arrive in time for the injured to survive, while helicopter hovering, vertical landing and maneuverability is necessary to access, load and take-off quickly amid dangerous, fast-changing combat circumstances. 

Offensive Air Assault Raids over enemy territory are also heavily dependent upon speed and landing or maneuvering agility, as soldiers need to arrive on location, drop from the air, strike and exit critical combat locations before being seen or attacked by an enemy. 

Missions of this kind present a need for vertical take-off-and-landing combined with airplane-like speed and range, a blend of operational attributes difficult to merge or combine into a single aircraft. 

Bell’s V-280 Valor Tiltrotor

Bell’s V-280 Valor Tiltrotor, now being assessed by the Army in its Future Vertical Lift – Future Long Range Air Assault program, seeks to achieve this blend or synergy between crucial yet typically not interwoven performance attributes. Bell developers drew upon breakthrough levels of propulsion technology, avionics and aircraft design to engineer a new tiltrotor able to hit speeds as fast as 300 knots and more than double the range or combat radius of the existing Black Hawk utility helicopter.

A tiltrotor such as the Bell V-280 Valor is uniquely positioned to perform specific kinds of critical, time-sensitive missions as it can reach its intended location with airplane speeds in moments of combat urgency, yet operate with helicopter-like maneuverability and hovering capacity. A V-280 would, for instance, be able to land in a clustered or congested urban environment without needing a runway or landing strip. This brings an enormous tactical advantage, should soldiers or key personnel need to be evacuated under the threat of an impending enemy attack. 

As a compound configuration, the concept of a tiltrotor is to capture and even exceed the performance parameters associated with effective helicopters by introducing the sheer speed, range and flight-path stability of an “airplane.” 

The implications of building an aircraft with these abilities are far-reaching, as they can massively decrease risk by removing the need for what the Army calls FARPs, Forward Arming and Refueling points. This kind of operational capability is aligned with Army requirements for the FLRAA program which was conceived of years ago as an aircraft able to introduce breakthrough combat ranges for helicopter aircraft such that attacking forces surging into enemy territory would not need to stop and land to rearm and refuel, thereby exposing itself to enemy attack.