After a thoroughly strenuous and lengthy period of flight tests spread over several years, the Army has chosen Bell’s V-280 Valor advanced tiltrotor to replace the venerable UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter.
The Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, Valor is set to enter service in the mid-2030s. Bell beat out Sikorsky and Boeing’s Defiant X compound coaxial helicopter based on Sikorsky’s X2 technology.
While somewhat stingy on the specifics of why the Army chose Bell’s tiltrotor over Sikorsky’s pusher-compound-rotor design derived from the company's 'X2' technology, Barrie said the decision boiled down to a “best value proposition."
“Can we be more specific on the factors of how exactly we arrived at this point? No,” Barrie said. “However, best value is meant in the truest sense that it was a comprehensive analysis of a variety of factors. No one really drove that decision. So, if you look broadly at a very high level, the factors are variables and performance, cost, and schedule, all were considered, and the combination of those are defined explicitly and evaluated ... that is what I would describe as the best value . and what the Army would describe as its best value selection.”
The award is a huge win for Bell. The company recently completed planned deliveries of the latest versions of the venerable H-1 family of rotorcraft to the Marine Corps, built the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior that the Army retired years ago, and, with Boeing, developed variants of the V-22 Osprey for the Marines, Air Force, and Navy.
#bells #v280 #valor #tiltrotator #usarmy #flraa #boeing #defiantx

свернуть