V-280 wins US ARMY FLRAA contract

[CTR]

What Lockheed and Boeing lack in engineering successes, they make up with a strong lobbying presence in Washington, and US representatives willing to bend to their will.

[noneofyourbusiness]

"Spyclip" at secret projects:

• 8 May 2023

History suggests that RaiderX will suffer the exact same performance issues as all other rigid rotor coaxial designs. Its hard to imagine a situation where the Army would select a fundamentally flawed platform, especially in this case where the aircraft will be given to the Army to do the test flying. Think about how Sikorsky has, to date, still never let an Army XP be PIC on the S-97. And also how there were no Army XP on Defiant until the absolute last minute on a single sortie before it went radio silent and likely retired.

There'll be no place to hide the weenie this time.

With the competitive prototype aircraft both designed around a single engine, RaiderX will be objectively outperformed by Invictus in flight test. If the Army pivots, as expected, to a twin with a larger footprint allowable then it negates the entire CP aircraft exercise and all the losing bidders for the demo will have a field day in court. Combined with the ongoing schedule slips of T901, I do not see how this entire SNAFU does not get canceled before EOY 2023.

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/thr....13812/page-63

[CTR]

Hitler Reacts to the Bell V-280 winning FLRAA.

This is the first I ever saw this type of parody humor. When playing the video on a phone, you may need to hold the phone vertically to see the full image.

All the audio is in German, but the close caption is a parody of what Hitler would say about Bell winning FLRAA, if he was in charge of Sikorsky.

https://www.captiongenerator.com/v/2284390/hitler-reacts-to-the-bell-v-280-winning-flraa.

[Stuart Sutcliffe]

Originally Posted by CTR

This is the first I ever saw this type of parody humor. When playing the video on a phone, you may need to hold the phone vertically to see the full image.

All the audio is in German, but the close caption is a parody of what Hitler would say about Bell winning FLRAA, if he was in charge of Sikorsky.

It may be the first time you have seen this particular video clip being used this way, but it has been used thousands of times like this over many, many years, to the point of being tiresome.

[CTR]

Originally Posted by Stuart Sutcliffe

It may be the first time you have seen this particular video clip being used this way, but it has been used thousands of times like this over many, many years, to the point of being tiresome.

Stuart,

To each their own. Humor is a very personal thing. I however, found it hilariously funny in a Steinfeld episode way. It was also almost spot on accurate in the engineering technical aspects.

Finally, after the legal and political actions of Lockheed following their loss to Bell, any feeling of shame in laughing at their current situation is nonexistent.

[Lonewolf_50]

Originally Posted by Stuart Sutcliffe

It may be the first time you have seen this particular video clip being used this way, but it has been used thousands of times like this over many, many years, to the point of being tiresome.

I thought it was both funny and spot on. One of the better applications of that meme show.

[Copter Appreciator00]

The Bell V-280 was always better than the Sikorsky SB-1, faster and more fuel efficient and smaller. BUT i wonder if the V280, which will be closer to battle spaces than the V-22, but i thought of an issue which made my spill my drink. The V280 will be the successor to the UH-60 and likely the UH-1Y, so it will fly and land closer to the enemy just as the black hawk did, so the likelihood of bullets strikes. WHAT IF, while in forward flight, one of the rotating mechanism for one of the two rotors systems was damaged by a bullet impact, and one of the rotating thing could not pivot - ??? If a helicopter gets hit, it can do auto rotate, or just lower its speed and land. But if the Valor gets hit in helicopter mode, it can land. I think the driveshaft is what tilts the rotor housing, but could the propellors be stuck in forward mode... is this a possible malfunction? What happens then, Valor can't land with the props forward..

[Commando Cody]

Originally Posted by Copter Appreciator00

The Bell V-280 was always better than the Sikorsky SB-1, faster and more fuel efficient and smaller. BUT i wonder if the V280, which will be closer to battle spaces than the V-22, but i thought of an issue which made my spill my drink. The V280 will be the successor to the UH-60 and likely the UH-1Y, so it will fly and land closer to the enemy just as the black hawk did, so the likelihood of bullets strikes. WHAT IF, while in forward flight, one of the rotating mechanism for one of the two rotors systems was damaged by a bullet impact, and one of the rotating thing could not pivot - ??? If a helicopter gets hit, it can do auto rotate, or just lower its speed and land. But if the Valor gets hit in helicopter mode, it can land. I think the driveshaft is what tilts the rotor housing, but could the propellors be stuck in forward mode... is this a possible malfunction? What happens then, Valor can't land with the props forward..

I suspect that Valor will use the same methodology used by the V-22 if the proprotors can't be raised for whatever reason. If they are stopped in the 12-4-8 o'clock position, the blades don't hit the ground. If they are rotating, they are designed to break off at the hub and the direction of rotation is such that the blades are thrown clear of the aircraft.

Also be aware that autorotation is not always that gentle of a landing. That's why in training and testing helos are not required to demonstrate autorotation all the way to the ground.

[CTR]

Originally Posted by Copter Appreciator00

WHAT IF, while in forward flight, one of the rotating mechanism for one of the two rotors systems was damaged by a bullet impact, and one of the rotating thing could not pivot - ??? If a helicopter gets hit, it can do auto rotate, or just lower its speed and land. But if the Valor gets hit in helicopter mode, it can land. I think the driveshaft is what tilts the rotor housing, but could the propellors be stuck in forward mode... is this a possible malfunction? What happens then, Valor can't land with the props forward..

No aircraft systems are ballistic proof, they are only ballistic tolerant. But based on published photos, the V-280 will incorporates a fully redundant pylon conversion actuator design, like the V-22. In the event of any single actuator part jamming, the aircraft can still covert to approximately 48 degrees (half normal full range). This angle is sufficient for a STOL landing without the blades contacting the ground.

[Sam W]

From Quad A:

First flight of the prototype now scheduled for 2026. Slippage from 2025 blamed on LM protest.

[CTR]

Playing Musical Chairs with Engineers

Originally Posted by Sam W

From Quad A:

First flight of the prototype now scheduled for 2026. Slippage from 2025 blamed on LM protest.

My contacts at Bell told me what happened when LM filed their protest. For three months there was no funding to keep the Bell engineering teams on FLRAA together to continue working. So, with the exception of management, almost all engineers, had to find homes on other programs. Most went to FARA, which was understaffed.

When the LM protest was finally denied, it took time to bring the engineers back, and get everyone back up to speed. The situation was even worse with FLRAA suppliers. They also had to find homes for their engineers on other programs. However, many of these engineers did not return.

So if anyone wonders how a three month delay turns into a year, now you know.

[chopper2004]

Fielding 2031

https://www.defensenews.com/industry...cDkuoc5wc7lKeu

cheers

[chopper2004]

Farnborough Air Show 2024

Popped my head into Textron chalet for meeting on V-280 so here are my photos of the mock up again






cheers

[CTR]

Thanks!

Thanks for the photos Chopper. The mock up must be about a decade old now, I wonder how well it is fared after being assembled, disassembled and shipped around the world over the years.

I recall when it was presented for the first time at Quad A. The mock-up and demonstrator aircraft reused Bell 525 collective and cyclic control assemblies. In the rush to get it completed, they forgot to add in a pylon angle control switch to the collective grips (silver coloured thumb wheel on top of grip). I was told not to worry that no one would notice other than Bell pilots. You can see the switch added to the 525 collective grips in your photo.


V280 mockup collective grip

[Commando Cody]

The V-280 design is evolving as it moves towards EMD and then production. As this process is still dynamic, it's probably too expensive to keep updating the mockup until the design is frozen. However, keeping smaller models current is doable. This is a model of the V-280 design as it appeared earlier in 2024. I'm a little surprised the model apparently wasn't at Farnborough since you can see the mockup was at the show where the updated model was unveiled. Some of the changes we can see are in the nose and forward fuselage as well as the side doors, and apparently a refueling probe may now be standard.

[Commando Cody]

Telling developments:

Spirit AeroSystems has been working on and has been planned for some time to be the supplier of the fuselage for the V-280. At the beginning of last month Boeing announced it was acquiring Spirit. Bell then announced at Farnborough that it would therefore remove Spirit as the supplier for the fuselage when the acquisition is complete in 2025. Given that Bell has experience working with Boeing, this is quite telling.

But wait! There's More! Later Boeing said it was going to break up and carve out sections of Spirit to sell off. Textron, Bell's parent, then said that in that case it is interested in buying the part of Spirit that is working on Valor's fuselage.

This is also telling.

[chopper2004]

OZ V-280?

Bell actively launching campaign to sell the V-280 Valor to the Australian Defence Force

https://breakingdefense.com/2024/09/...lor-tiltrotor/

cheers

[chopper2004]

To Cheyenne II

Welcome the Cheyenne II



https://www.twz.com/air/army-names-its-new-mv-75-tiltrotor-cheyenne-ii

https://youtu.be/X-hQiibTHYg?si=8hXO_TyRScR2Zq5E

cheers

[The Sultan]

Cheyenne is a lazy choice. I was hoping they would follow the V-22 “tradition” and name it after a predatory bird. My recommendation was “Kestrel” which is smaller, faster, and more maneuverable as compared to the Osprey.