Latest news with #V-280Valor
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Move over, Black Hawk: Army unveils the MV-75, tiltrotor aircraft to replace iconic assault chopper
The U.S. Army is preparing to retire its iconic Black Hawk helicopters — the workhorses of its air assault fleet for nearly five decades — in favor of a faster, more versatile aircraft built for the challenges of 21st-century warfare. Bell Aircraft's V-280 Valor, a cutting-edge tiltrotor aircraft, has been selected to begin phasing out the Black Hawk by the 2030s. Once fully deployed, it will be designated the MV-75, though a common nickname has yet to emerge. The Valor combines the vertical lift capabilities of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing airplane, cruising at 320 mph — nearly double the Black Hawk's top speed of 175 mph. This hybrid design, enabled by tiltrotor technology, allows the MV-75 to hover, land vertically in tight spaces, and then shift into high-speed horizontal flight. It's tailor-made for operations in the Indo-Pacific region, where U.S. forces must be able to travel long distances over the ocean and conduct rapid insertions into constrained environments, such as jungle clearings or island terrain without runways. Fox News Digital recently took a tour of Bell's Advanced Vertical Lift Center in Crystal City, Virginia. Billions Spent, Warfighters Wait: Inside The Pentagon's Broken Buying System And The Plan To Fix It "The Army recognized that the battlefield has changed," Rob Freeland, Bell's director of government relations and public affairs, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. "The enemy now has long-range fires, advanced sensors, and robust networks. You have to move faster and strike before they do." Read On The Fox News App Speed and range are at the heart of this transformation. As Freeland put it: "If you can move at twice the speed and range of your adversary, you can change the outcome before they can react." The MV-75 is designed to carry up to 14 troops and haul payloads of 10,000 pounds, making it ideal for rapid troop deployments, heavy resupply and surprise assault missions. It will also feature autonomous and semi-autonomous capabilities, a leap forward in reducing pilot workload and enabling future unmanned operations. The V-280 Valor beat out a proposed joint Sikorsky-Boeing compound helicopter platform dubbed the SB-1 Defiant-X in 2019 for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. The Army has contracted Texas-based aerospace company Bell to build six prototypes, conduct the first test flight by 2026 and begin full-scale production by 2028, with delivery targeted for 2030. However, leadership has expressed interest in accelerating that schedule under the Army Transformation Initiative. "We're not waiting for a distant out-year to make this thing real," said Gen. James Mingus, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, speaking at the Mission Solutions Summit earlier this month. "We are driving to get this aircraft online years ahead of schedule." Hegseth Orders Sweeping Army Overhaul And Consolidation Aimed At Countering China And Golden Dome Capabilities The "MV" designation reflects the aircraft's multi-mission and vertical takeoff capabilities. It's built for a broad range of missions, including air assault, maritime interdiction, medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), combat search and rescue, and tactical resupply. The first unit to receive the MV-75 will be the 101st Airborne Division, the Army's elite air assault force. One of the Army's priorities in selecting a replacement was reliability. After years of dealing with aging helicopters requiring frequent maintenance, the Army is demanding aircraft that can stay in the fight with minimal downtime. "Because it's inherently reliable, you don't need a mountain of gear next to you just to keep the aircraft flying," said Freeland. The MV-75 program is part of a broader Pentagon push to modernize U.S. military capabilities in an era defined by strategic competition with China. Since entering service in the late 1970s, the UH-60 Black Hawk has been the backbone of Army aviation. It has flown in nearly every major U.S. military operation over the past 40 years, from evacuating wounded troops in Grenada and Panama, to supporting combat and logistics missions in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Black Hawk was infamously involved in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, and became a household name through its depiction in the 1999 book and 2001 movie "Black Hawk Down." Its versatility, durability and ability to perform under fire made it a symbol of American air power — but after decades of use, its replacement will need to adapt to the evolving article source: Move over, Black Hawk: Army unveils the MV-75, tiltrotor aircraft to replace iconic assault chopper
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Move over, Black Hawk: Army unveils the MV-75, tiltrotor aircraft to replace iconic assault chopper
The U.S. Army is preparing to retire its iconic Black Hawk helicopters — the workhorses of its air assault fleet for nearly five decades — in favor of a faster, more versatile aircraft built for the challenges of 21st-century warfare. Bell Aircraft's V-280 Valor, a cutting-edge tiltrotor aircraft, has been selected to begin phasing out the Black Hawk by the 2030s. Once fully deployed, it will be designated the MV-75, though a common nickname has yet to emerge. The Valor combines the vertical lift capabilities of a helicopter with the speed and range of a fixed-wing airplane, cruising at 320 mph — nearly double the Black Hawk's top speed of 175 mph. This hybrid design, enabled by tiltrotor technology, allows the MV-75 to hover, land vertically in tight spaces, and then shift into high-speed horizontal flight. It's tailor-made for operations in the Indo-Pacific region, where U.S. forces must be able to travel long distances over the ocean and conduct rapid insertions into constrained environments, such as jungle clearings or island terrain without runways. Fox News Digital recently took a tour of Bell's Advanced Vertical Lift Center in Crystal City, Virginia. "The Army recognized that the battlefield has changed," Rob Freeland, Bell's director of government relations and public affairs, said in an interview with Fox News Digital. "The enemy now has long-range fires, advanced sensors, and robust networks. You have to move faster and strike before they do." Speed and range are at the heart of this transformation. As Freeland put it: "If you can move at twice the speed and range of your adversary, you can change the outcome before they can react." The MV-75 is designed to carry up to 14 troops and haul payloads of 10,000 pounds, making it ideal for rapid troop deployments, heavy resupply and surprise assault missions. It will also feature autonomous and semi-autonomous capabilities, a leap forward in reducing pilot workload and enabling future unmanned operations. The V-280 Valor beat out a proposed joint Sikorsky-Boeing compound helicopter platform dubbed the SB-1 Defiant-X in 2019 for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. The Army has contracted Texas-based aerospace company Bell to build six prototypes, conduct the first test flight by 2026 and begin full-scale production by 2028, with delivery targeted for 2030. However, leadership has expressed interest in accelerating that schedule under the Army Transformation Initiative. "We're not waiting for a distant out-year to make this thing real," said Gen. James Mingus, Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, speaking at the Mission Solutions Summit earlier this month. "We are driving to get this aircraft online years ahead of schedule." The "MV" designation reflects the aircraft's multi-mission and vertical takeoff capabilities. It's built for a broad range of missions, including air assault, maritime interdiction, medical evacuation (MEDEVAC), combat search and rescue, and tactical resupply. The first unit to receive the MV-75 will be the 101st Airborne Division, the Army's elite air assault force. One of the Army's priorities in selecting a replacement was reliability. After years of dealing with aging helicopters requiring frequent maintenance, the Army is demanding aircraft that can stay in the fight with minimal downtime. "Because it's inherently reliable, you don't need a mountain of gear next to you just to keep the aircraft flying," said Freeland. The MV-75 program is part of a broader Pentagon push to modernize U.S. military capabilities in an era defined by strategic competition with China. Since entering service in the late 1970s, the UH-60 Black Hawk has been the backbone of Army aviation. It has flown in nearly every major U.S. military operation over the past 40 years, from evacuating wounded troops in Grenada and Panama, to supporting combat and logistics missions in Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan. The Black Hawk was infamously involved in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, and became a household name through its depiction in the 1999 book and 2001 movie "Black Hawk Down." Its versatility, durability and ability to perform under fire made it a symbol of American air power — but after decades of use, its replacement will need to adapt to the evolving battlefield.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Army targets 2028 to deliver future assault aircraft to soldiers
NASHVILLE, Tenn. − The Army plans to accelerate the delivery of its first production-representative Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft to soldiers in 2028 by moving into low-rate production while still testing prototypes, Col. Jeffrey Poquette, the service's FLRAA program manager, told Defense News. Army leadership has tasked itself to accelerate the fielding of FLRAA as part of a newly debuted transformation initiative. And while speeding up any major procurement program contains substantial risk, Army aviation leaders and Textron's Bell, the company chosen to build the service's brand new advanced tiltrotor, say the program is unique in the sense that significant risk was driven down through digital design, engineering and a technology demonstration effort, where it flew the V-280 Valor tiltrotor for over 200 hours. 'Normally you would build prototypes, then you would go to test,' Poquette said. 'And during test, you're not doing a whole lot of building. You're testing the aircraft and you're building up a body of engineering work and results [ahead of] a Milestone C [production] decision.' Typically, programs are in testing with prototypes for roughly two years prior to production decisions. 'We're not going to accelerate testing. We're not going to accelerate design,' he said. 'They're already very compressed, but what we can do is assume a little bit of risk and say, well maybe we can build aircraft during test.' With the test effort going on in the background with the eight prototypes that will have already been built, Bell would begin building production aircraft, he said. In 2027, the Army plans to make an early production decision ahead of Milestone C. The service is able to do so because there is already an option built into the current contract with Bell to exercise a low-rate production lot. While concurrency — when a program chooses to produce systems before proving final design out through the testing program — has led to program delays and, in some cases, demise, Bell and the Army are confident this time is different. Bell has assured the Army that it is 'very confident' in its digital engineering to the point that, 'although it may not be perfect, it'll be pretty close,' Poquette said. 'It's a continuation of production from our prototypes into early production representative aircraft,' Ryan Ehinger, Bell's FLRAA program manager, said. 'And it's a second iteration. We did the [Joint Multirole Technology Demonstrator]. That was a one-off aircraft. We've been doing manufacturing development from then through now in some of these advanced manufacturing technologies and techniques.' Bell also builds critical components like the wing, the blades and the gear boxes, he added. 'We've got our manufacturing technology center that has been iterating for years on some of these designs,' he said. Another lever the Army plans to try to pull to accelerate fielding is completing full-rate production in four or five years rather than in seven or eight. 'What we're asking Bell to do is build capacity faster to get to a full-rate production,' Poquette said. 'That means we get a company a year earlier, but we get a battalion 18 months earlier and we get two battalions 30 months earlier.' While the original plan was to conduct the initial operational test program in late FY31, the Army could also be able to enter that phase more quickly because it will already have aircraft built, according to Poquette. The IOT&E could potentially begin in the FY28 or FY29 time period.
Newsweek
30-04-2025
- Automotive
- Newsweek
New US Army Helicopter Could Fly Twice As Fast As A Black Hawk
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The U.S. Army is close to finalizing the design of a new helicopter intended to replace the iconic Black Hawk, and it's built to fly nearly twice as fast and twice as far. Developed by Bell, the new aircraft—known as the V-280 Valor—is part of the Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. The Valor uses a tiltrotor system, similar to the V-22 Osprey, which allows it to take off vertically like a helicopter and cruise like a plane. It's expected to reach speeds of over 280 knots (about 320 mph) and cover up to 400 nautical miles, far beyond the capabilities of the UH-60 Black Hawk it will eventually replace. The Army selected Bell's design in late 2022 after a competitive demonstration phase in which both Bell and a team from Sikorsky and Boeing built and flew prototypes. The Sikorsky-Boeing entry, the Defiant X, featured a coaxial rotor system. Bell ultimately secured the contract. The Black Hawk has served the U.S. Army for over four decades—now it's set to be replaced by a faster, longer-range aircraft. The Black Hawk has served the U.S. Army for over four decades—now it's set to be replaced by a faster, longer-range aircraft. AP Photo Since then, the Army has been working closely with Bell to complete the design phase. According to Lieutenant General Wally Rugen, the Army's deputy chief of staff for aviation, the design is expected to be finalized by this summer. Bell will then begin building flight test vehicles, with test flights planned to begin in fiscal year 2026. Colonel Jeffrey Poquette, the Army's project manager for the program, said Bell's use of digital engineering tools has allowed the Army to follow the aircraft's development in real-time—something not possible in past programs. That level of access has helped speed up the process, which is a key goal for the Army as it looks to modernize its aviation fleet. The new aircraft is designed to carry out the same kinds of missions as the Black Hawk—transporting troops and equipment into combat zones—but with greater range, speed, and survivability. The Army plans to begin fielding the Valor by 2030 as part of a broader strategy to modernize its vertical lift capabilities. Sikorsky and Boeing, despite not being selected for FLRAA, continue to work on other advanced aircraft under the Army's aviation modernization plans. This marks one of the Army's most significant helicopter development efforts in decades—and a major step toward reshaping how it operates in future conflicts.
