V-280 was the Right Choice
Having had an opportunity to fly the X-59 in the early 1980s and later follow the V-22 through its development and fielding, one has to wonder why one aircraft (tilt rotor) has progressed nicely while the other, the co-axial system aircraft have lagged so far behind. Early in the V-22 program naysayer’s argued that the V-22 didn’t have enough rotor to be a descent helicopter and not enough wing to be a descent airplane. History has been proven this wrong. The V-22 has a successfully found a niche within the military system.
In the meantime, the coaxial system aircraft proposed by Sikorsky still languishes in development with many questions unanswered. Sikorsky/ Boeing marketing projects an unsubstantiated story of an aircraft with capabilities not actually demonstrated in flight test. I believe that, at this time, the decision to select the V-280 was correct. Going forward we will see a mix of V-280s and legacy H-60s many years into the future.