Originally Posted by
etudiant
The schedule is a convenient fiction.
Seems pretty clear the competition is between tilt and coaxial rotor designs.
Neither is especially impressive at this point, so a few more years to mature the technologies will not hurt.
Originally Posted by
etudiant
The schedule is a convenient fiction.
Seems pretty clear the competition is between tilt and coaxial rotor designs.
Neither is especially impressive at this point, so a few more years to mature the technologies will not hurt.
I agree the schedule is a fiction, but for a different reason.
The schedule right now is JMR demonstrators first fly in FY 2017 (which won't happen with SB-1), followed by testing and demonstrations in 2018. 2019-2020 they gov't analyses the data; note how it takes the gov't longer to analyze the data than the entire flight program. 2020-2023 then is set aside for the "risk reduction" phase of FVL, which involves an RFP and competition. Note that this will not necessarily be a competition between Bell and Sikorsky, AVX and Karem could bid, after all, JMR was just a "demonstration" of how it was possible to fly advanced concepts. That is supposed to run until 2023, after which there would be an an additional seven to nine year engineering phase leading to entry into service.
That scedule is a fantasy. Taking that long means you're behind the technological advantages in all those years. More importantly, any advanced rotorcraft prgram that takes that long is going to have its funding raided by other programs and will be subject to the vagries of multiple presidential administrations and changes in Congress. If they are going that slow, they might as well not bother.
Bell says that they can deliver an operational version of the V-280 by 2024. Given their track record, and as long as the gov't comes through with the agreed upon funding on time ( a problem that plagued the V-22 throughout it's development), that seems reasonable, and also is a schedule that would help insure the survival of FVL.
Not sure I understand what you mean by not especially impressive.