MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
From Defense News:
ARLINGTON, Texas — Bell's V-280 Valor tilt-rotor demonstrator flew autonomously for the first time Dec. 18 at the company's Arlington, Texas, facility during two sorties.
Over the course of the day, the V-280 met all of Bell's flight goals for the aircraft's first venture into flying autonomously.
The V-280 performed an autonomous takeoff, conversion into cruise mode, precision navigation to various waypoints, loiter maneuvers, conversion into vertical-takeoff-and-landing mode, and landed autonomously, Ryan Ehinger, Bell's program manager for the V-280, told reporters at a company demonstration of the aircraft in Arlington on Jan. 8.
Bell developed its objective in late 2018 to run autonomous flight demonstrations with the V-280. It was in December 2018 when the company was finally able to execute the flight tests.
The V-280 was built for the Army's Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration program, and the aircraft had its maiden flight in December 2017.
The JMR-TD program is meant to inform the Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. A Sikorsky-Boeing team is also flying a demonstrator — the SB-1 Defiant — as part of the program, but the team got off to a late start, flying for the first time in March 2019, mainly due to delays related to issues building the rotor blades for the coaxial helicopter.
The Army plans to modernize its fleet through an ambitious effort to acquire two new future vertical lift aircraft back to back — FLRAA and a future attack reconnaissance aircraft (FARA).
The service intends to field FLRAA by fiscal 2030 following a full and open competition.
The Army wants both FLRAA and FARA to be optionally piloted aircraft, but whether that capability comes in the first tranches when the fleet is fielded remains to be seen.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Bell's V-280 Valor tilt-rotor demonstrator flew autonomously for the first time Dec. 18 at the company's Arlington, Texas, facility during two sorties.
Over the course of the day, the V-280 met all of Bell's flight goals for the aircraft's first venture into flying autonomously.
The V-280 performed an autonomous takeoff, conversion into cruise mode, precision navigation to various waypoints, loiter maneuvers, conversion into vertical-takeoff-and-landing mode, and landed autonomously, Ryan Ehinger, Bell's program manager for the V-280, told reporters at a company demonstration of the aircraft in Arlington on Jan. 8.
Bell developed its objective in late 2018 to run autonomous flight demonstrations with the V-280. It was in December 2018 when the company was finally able to execute the flight tests.
The V-280 was built for the Army's Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration program, and the aircraft had its maiden flight in December 2017.
The JMR-TD program is meant to inform the Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. A Sikorsky-Boeing team is also flying a demonstrator — the SB-1 Defiant — as part of the program, but the team got off to a late start, flying for the first time in March 2019, mainly due to delays related to issues building the rotor blades for the coaxial helicopter.
The Army plans to modernize its fleet through an ambitious effort to acquire two new future vertical lift aircraft back to back — FLRAA and a future attack reconnaissance aircraft (FARA).
The service intends to field FLRAA by fiscal 2030 following a full and open competition.
The Army wants both FLRAA and FARA to be optionally piloted aircraft, but whether that capability comes in the first tranches when the fleet is fielded remains to be seen.