Bell Helicopter

After 34 years of service, during which it clocked up 933,614 flight hours, the United States Marine Corps is retiring its fleet of 179 Bell AH-1W “Super Cobra” attack helicopters, though some have been converted to their successor, the AH-1Z Viper.

The US Army has reduced its Future Attack and Reconnaissance (FARA) competition to two contenders. Bell's 360 Invictus and Sikorsky's Raider X have been okayed to proceed to the prototype phase of a new "knife fighter" small assault helicopter.

Ordinarily on a helicopter, the main rotor is mechanically linked to the tail rotor, so the spinning of the former causes the latter to do likewise. A new system replaces the tail rotor with four fans, potentially making for safer and quieter flight.

The latest variant of the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft recently completed its maiden flight. Designed to replace the US Navy's C-2A Greyhound cargo aircraft, the CMV-22B Osprey will be used to transport high-priority cargoes for carrier fleets.

After offering a look at its vision for flying taxis at last year's CES, Bell has returned to Las Vegas with what it considers a new and improved version, featuring an all-electric mode for zero-emission travel over urban centers.

The V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft fleet, which been in service with US forces since 2007, has racked up over 500,000 flight hours.

Bell has unveiled the Bell 360 Invictus rotorcraft, as the company's entrant in the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) Competitive Prototype program.

Bell has joined the cargo drone space with its APT 70, which has just nailed its first autonomous test flight.

The Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft has completed a milestone hover and low-speed agility key performance parameter (KPP) test. Part of the US Army-led JMR TD program, the test flights were reportedly completed ahead of schedule and show that the Valor meets Army performance requirements.

Merging two cutting-edge technologies, Lockheed Martin flew its Pilotage Distributed Aperture Sensor system aboard a Bell V-280 Valor last month. The multi-functional sensor system collects high-resolution images from around the aircraft, providing the flight crew with a 360-degree view.

Bell's V-280 Valor tiltrotor combat aircraft lived up to its name on Wednesday as it pegged the speedometer at a true airspeed of 280 knots (322 mph, 518 km/h), or twice that of conventional rotorcraft. The flight took place at the company's Flight Research Center in Arlington, Texas.

Before coming back down to earth with the start of this week's NAIAS, the mobility industry spent some time in bright, blue sky at CES 2019. Forget cars ready to drive home off the lot, CES was focused on vessels and systems built to shift paradigms and solve emerging transportation issues.