Aircraft

Bell V-280 goes into first cruise flight

The Bell V-280 tilt-rotor aircraft went into cruise mode for the first time on May 11, 2018
Bell
The Bell V-280 tilt-rotor aircraft went into cruise mode for the first time on May 11, 2018
Bell

Bell's experimental V-280 Valor has made its first cruise flight. A video released by the company shows the tilt-rotor aircraft flying with its propellers tilted to forward for the first time on May 11 at the company's Amarillo, Texas facility, where it reached a top speed of 190 knots (218 mph, 352 km/h). The Valor is being developed as part of the US Department of Defense's Joint Multi Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) initiative.

The first cruise flight of the Valor marks the most significant milestone in its development since its maiden flight on December 18, 2017. During that flight, it rose untethered from the first time to execute a hovering maneuver before returning to the ground.

The Valor is the result of a partnership with Lockheed Martin, GE, Moog, IAI, TRU Simulation & Training, Astronics, Eaton, GKN Aerospace, Lord, Meggitt, and Spirit AeroSystems. It's intended as a lighter, simpler, and cheaper variant of the V-22 Osprey. The Valor makes extensive use of composites in honeycomb sandwich configurations, that allow engineers to achieve a 30 percent improvement in weight savings despite having integrated cabin armor.

According to the website FlightGlobal, Glenn Isbell, vice-president of rapid prototyping and manufacturing innovation with Bell, said at AHS International's Annual Forum & Technology Display conference in Phoenix, Arizona that the next step is to reach speeds of 280 knots (322 mph, 518 km/h).

The video below shows the Bell V-280 Valor in flight as seen by a chase plane.

Source: Bell

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3 comments
Wombat56
The video is a bit of a waste of time and data. It shows the plane in level flight but not the takeoff or landing, which are of particular interest in a VTOL.
Redmercury
Look up a video of an Osprey. Now imagine it's smaller.
ljaques
Ditto, Wombat56, I wanted to see the conversion from cruise to hover mode, curious about the time it takes to morph.
Redmercury, look up a video of a Bell 47 helicopter. Now imagine that it's different.