Bell V-280 Valor

[zerion]

Bell Helicopter ‘within days’ of first ground trials for V-280 Valor tilt-rotor

http://www.defensenews.com/land/2017/09 ... 280-valor/

[zerion]

First ground test

https://breakingdefense.com/2017/10/bel ... ound-test/

[neptune]

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... er-441782/

Bell pushes Valor’s first flight past September

03 October, 2017
BY: Leigh Giangreco

Washington DC
Bell Helicopter did not reach first flight with its V-280 Valor on 30 September as originally announced and instead projects the tilt rotor aircraft will meet that milestone in November, V-280’s program manager tells FlightGlobal this week. In August, Bell finished building its V-280 prototype but only referred to its first flight date as this fall. Bell started ground tests on 20 September, beginning with checks of the GE Aviation T64 engines and later electromagnetic interference checks on the Lockheed Martin-supplied avionics. Bell didn’t add test points to its ground test regimen, but is taking those tests more slowly, V-280 program manager Chris Gehler says. “We’re being very cautious and methodical,” Gehler says. “So it’s maybe taking a little bit longer but we’re not pushing the aircraft beyond what we think is safe. We had a couple of items we wanted to investigate.”

Weather also played a role in pushing first flight later into the fall, with even drops of rain threatening to erode instrumentation on the rotor blades. “I wish I would have installed a carport over my ground run facility so I could run during the rain,” he says. “With all the instrumentation that we have on the blades and everywhere else, we’re really limited to being able to operate when it’s not raining.” Bell remains well ahead of Sikorsky-Boeing’s SB-1 Defiant, lagging months behind its first flight date for US Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration (JMR-TD). Defiant was scheduled to fly this fall, but Boeing announced in April the milestone would be pushed to early 2018. Program managers did not report a significant issue that caused the delay, though Boeing was still procuring Defiant’s fuselage even as the program was undergoing wind tunnel tests. The JMR-TD flight demonstration is intended by the army to evaluate technologies that could be used for a family of high-speed, Future Vertical Lift (FVL) aircraft. Such designs, with speeds well above the limit of about 170kt for most conventional helicopters, would replace the army's fleet of Boeing AH-64 attack, Sikorsky UH-60 utility and Boeing CH-47 cargo helicopters.

[neptune]

Interesting. I saw them advertising the DAS-like sensors, and was wondering if they had brought in Northrop Grumman. Guess not.

....looks like plenty of room for an EOTS (EO/DAS), a helicopter version of an AN/APG-81 (ISAR), mini-Barracuda and an advanced CNI; LM should be able to help them with the system merge software. ISR and troop (SA)/ equipment deployment in one package! Lazer guided 2.75", 5.0" rockets and SDB2s dropped from wing hard points, with delays to clear the props.

[neptune]

Interesting. I saw them advertising the DAS-like sensors, and was wondering if they had brought in Northrop Grumman. Guess not.

....looks like plenty of room for an EOTS (EO/DAS), a helicopter version of an AN/APG-81 (ISAR), mini-Barracuda and an advanced CNI; LM should be able to help them with the system merge software. ISR and troop (SA)/ equipment deployment in one package! Lazer guided 2.75", 5.0" rockets and SDB2s dropped from wing hard points, with delays to clear the props.

....1200mi. Combat radius should give it plenty of ISR loiter time, unless it adds IFR.

[count_to_10]

I saw the "attack" configuration the other day at AUSA. There was only one quad rack on each side, but the load out was a bit of a surprise. Only four of the eight rails were taken up by hellfire; one rail on each side held a six pack of what looked like Lockheed's proposed CRAM interceptor, and the last two were taken up by something that looked suspiciously like the CUDA. The PR guy answering questions didn't know what it was. Did anyone else see it?
Also, there was definitely an F-35 electro-optical window on the chin, and one of the small scale models on a separate podium had the lines of a "stealth" version.

[eloise]

I saw the "attack" configuration the other day at AUSA. There was only one quad rack on each side, but the load out was a bit of a surprise. Only four of the eight rails were taken up by hellfire. The PR guy answering questions didn't know what it was. Did anyone else see it?
Also, there was definitely an F-35 electro-optical window on the chin, and one of the small scale models on a separate podium had the lines of a "stealth" version.

Did you take any photos?

one rail on each side held a six pack of what looked like Lockheed's proposed CRAM interceptor, and the last two were taken up by something that looked suspiciously like the CUDA

Laser guided Zuni rocket?

[SpudmanWP]

https://mbdainc.com/products/laser-guided-zuni/

[count_to_10]

I saw the "attack" configuration the other day at AUSA. There was only one quad rack on each side, but the load out was a bit of a surprise. Only four of the eight rails were taken up by hellfire. The PR guy answering questions didn't know what it was. Did anyone else see it?
Also, there was definitely an F-35 electro-optical window on the chin, and one of the small scale models on a separate podium had the lines of a "stealth" version.

Did you take any photos?

one rail on each side held a six pack of what looked like Lockheed's proposed CRAM interceptor, and the last two were taken up by something that looked suspiciously like the CUDA

Laser guided Zuni rocket?

I thought about it, but ended up not taking a pictures.

The six pack of missiles were definitely not Zuni: they were probably less than two inches in diameter and maybe two feet long. The box that held them was rectangular, had a clamshell cover in front, and had them in a literal "six pack" arrangement.

[cantaz]

It might be one of the super small PGMs in development. A variant of one of the infantry launched systems.

[discofishing]

It might be one of the super small PGMs in development. A variant of one of the infantry launched systems.

That's going to upset the airforce if the Army has anything that flies faster than 200kts and can shoot missiles and/or drop bombs.

[XanderCrews]

It might be one of the super small PGMs in development. A variant of one of the infantry launched systems.

That's going to upset the airforce if the Army has anything that flies faster than 200kts and can shoot missiles and/or drop bombs.

Why?

[neptune]

It might be one of the super small PGMs in development. A variant of one of the infantry launched systems.

That's going to upset the airforce if the Army has anything that flies faster than 200kts and can shoot missiles and/or drop bombs.

Why?

C-27J 315kn

[count_to_10]

It might be one of the super small PGMs in development. A variant of one of the infantry launched systems.

That's going to upset the airforce if the Army has anything that flies faster than 200kts and can shoot missiles and/or drop bombs.

AC-130s already shoot missiles, though I’m not sure about bombs.

[zerion]

It might be one of the super small PGMs in development. A variant of one of the infantry launched systems.

That's going to upset the airforce if the Army has anything that flies faster than 200kts and can shoot missiles and/or drop bombs.

AC-130s already shoot missiles, though I’m not sure about bombs.

SDBs