Sultan, I don't diss the tilt-rotor, just remark that it appears
"unwieldy in comparison". When one landed on a UK aircraft carrier last year, it was impressive, but there's no way you could strike one down into the hangar as easily as an ABC type machine.
That said, horses for courses, the two design types ought to be able to fulfil completely different roles. T/R for vertical or STO lift of troops/pax with rapid transport & delivery; ABC for rapid response (but probably shorter range) delivery of sensors/weaponary to an area and/or efficient loiter on task - hence my comment about Police role. I would have thought that hovering over a built-up area at midnight in a T/R machine would be a complete waste of its talents!
True, the ABC has not yet fulfilled its design/speed potential but
"with plenty of scope for development", had it had the same billions poured into it since the 80s that have funded T/R development, I would expect that speeds wouldn't be dramatically different - despite the two designs being quintessentially for different roles.
