Bell Helicopter brought its V-280 Valor to AUSA in Washington, DC. Andrew Parker Photo
During the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) annual meeting and exposition this week, Bell Helicopter revealed another supplier for the third-generation tiltrotor, and laid out the power plans for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role (JMR) technology demonstrator phase. The T-64-GE-419 engine from General Electric will power the aircraft during the tech demo phase.
JMR is the precursor to Future Vertical Lift (FVL), which is a joint effort across various U.S. military branches to develop a family of replacement aircraft, including for the U.S. Army’s Boeing AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook, Bell OH-58 Kiowa and Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.
Technology demonstrations are scheduled for 2017, and will pit a team led by Bell and Lockheed Martin against a joint Boeing-Sikorsky effort based off the X2 and S-97 Raider compound aircraft.
Bell plans to use a version of the Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) for the production V-280. FATE is under U.S. Army’s Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) efforts to develop a more efficient helicopter engine as part of the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP). GE will supply the Y64-GE-419 for the demonstration phase, noting that the FATE program is advancing toward testing during 2015.
Bell has also added Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) to the group of companies that are part of Team Valor. IAI will provide the nacelle structures for the V-280. Bell continues to bolster Team Valor, which includes Lockheed Martin, AGC AeroComposites, Astronics, Eaton, GKN Aerospace, LORD Corp., Meggitt, Moog and Spirit Aerosystems.