BELL V-280 VALOR – FIRST YEAR OF FLIGHT

The past December 18 marked the anniversary of the V-280 Valor’s first flight.

Fort Worth, Texas – Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, and Team Valor marked the anniversary of the V-280 Valor’s first flight by continuing to prove the aircraft’s  performance and technical maturity. As part of the U.S. Army led Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) program, the V-280 demonstrates that close collaboration between government and industry can deliver transformational speed, range and agility in vertical lift, in a fast and sustainable process.

“I am proud of the team’s remarkable accomplishments during the first year of flight. By working with the government, we continue to prove the V-280 is the agile aircraft that our military needs now.”

President and CEO Mitch Snyder.

In nearly 85 hours of flight and more than 180 rotor turn hours, some V-280 flight testing milestones are:

Forward flight at 250 knots true airspeed
In-flight transitions between cruise mode and vertical takeoff and landing 50-degree banked turns at 200 knots indicated airspeed 4,500 feet per minute rate of climb and sustained flight at 11,500 feet altitude.

Single flight ferry flight of over 370 miles
Demonstrated low and high-speed agility with fly-by-wire controls.

The V-280 continues to expand the envelope in flight testing and expects to complete all the key performance parameters in the coming months, including additional low-speed agility tests and full cruise speed in forward flight.

"This anniversary is an important milestone as we provide options for the U.S. Army to meet its vision for a modernized force in the near future and regain overmatch in vertical lift. We are prepared to field a suitable, affordable and sustainable aircraft to meet that accelerated timeframe."

Vince Tobin, executive vice president for military business at Bell.

With twice the speed and range of existing helicopters, the Bell V-280 Valor is digitally-designed to provide decisive battlefield advantages with superior agility, payload, and reliability that will vastly increase warfighter survivability and lethality.

To see updates on the V-280 Valor and learn more on the capabilities, please visit https://www.bellflight.com/military/bell-v-280, and follow us on YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

TEAM VALOR LANDS AWARD FOR BEST FLIGHT TEST PAPER

Presented during the 49th International Symposium of Flight Test Engineers.

07 November 2018

During the 49th International Symposium of Flight Test Engineers, the Bell V-280 Valor team received the best paper award in the category for “Certification at Warp Speed.” The paper, “V-280 Valor First Flight Build-up:  Preparing for a Technology Demonstration” explains how the V-280 worked through a deliberate program schedule to achieve its first flight nearly a year ago.

This paper exemplified the symposium theme of “Tomorrow’s Flight Test.” The Bell team showed how they, alongside all of Team Valor, applied experimental risk management to prepare for, and execute the build-up testing required to achieve first flight of this revolutionary technology demonstrator in a short period of time.

Video of that historic flight:

The team explained throughout the program the goal was to inform the requirements and reduce risk for a Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program of record. The paper also offered conclusions from their work that could impact future flight testing efforts and the importance of flexibility during flight test execution.

Colin Miller, Gulfstream Vice President of Flight Operations (left) presents the award to Bell's Kevin Christensen and Errick Smith.

Please join us in congratulating the paper authors:

Errick Smith, Experimental Flight Test Engineer

Kevin Christensen, Test & Evaluation Manager

Don Grove, Tiltrotor Chief Pilot

Paul Ryan, Experimental Test Pilot