Latest news with #tiltrotor
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Yahoo
101st Airborne tapped as first unit to get new Black Hawk replacement
The 101st Airborne Division will be the first unit to get the Army's new tiltrotor aircraft. This week the Army announced that the 101st will get to use Bell's V-280 Valor, a next-generation replacement for the aging H-60 Black Hawk helicopter. The 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, the division's attached aviation unit, will receive the aircraft, which recently was given its official mission-design series designator of the MV-75. The choice of the 101st 'was based on their mission profile and theater demands,' Gen. James Mingus, the Army's vice chief of staff, said during his remarks at the Army Aviation Association of America conference this week. 'This decision makes sense, the 101st is a formation built to deploy rapidly and operate in austere conditions,' he continued. Bell's V-280 Valor, was selected in 2022 as the winner of the Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft competition. The vertical take off and landing craft has two engines and is designed for both assault and transport purposes. According to the manufacturer, the aircraft is capable of a top speed of 280 knots (which led to its name) and has a range of 800 nautical miles, both greater than Black Hawk. Beyond speed, the aircraft can also carry a greater number of soldiers and cargo than the Black Hawk. Mingus said that the initial testing by the 101st Airborne Division will be used to shape MV-75 tactics and doctrine, per Janes. The Army operates roughly 2,000 Black Hawk helicopters, which have been in use since the 1970s. The Army previously said it expects to field the MV-75 by 2030. According to TWZ, the MV-75 designation is an homage to the year 1775, the birth year of the U.S. Army. The Army is currently carrying out several events and projects commemorating its 250th birthday. Earlier this month U.S. Special Operations Command said that the V-280 was changed in development to allow it to carry more weight, with the intention of making it more easily convertible for use by special operations units. The Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment currently uses MH-60M variants of Black Hawks, which require extensive modifications to be mission ready. The assignment comes as the Army is also aiming to shift how it uses its helicopter units. In late April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth released a memo directing a major transformation of the overall U.S. Army. That included restructuring of commands, a greater focus on integrating tactics around drones, and a reshaping of helicopter units. Hegseth's memo directed the Secretary of the Army to 'reduce and restructure manned attack helicopter formations,' as well as design them to work in coordination with drone swarms. It's unclear how testing on the MV-75 will play into that goal. Army infantry officer calls new XM7 'unfit for use as a modern service rifle' Attempted Fort Leavenworth prison break leaves military inmate tangled on fence When Americans, Germans and POWs fought the SS from the walls of a castle This Army combat medic fought off an active shooter and rendered first aid This 53 aircraft 'elephant walk' has everything you'd need for a war in the Pacific
Fox News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Army ditches helicopters for new radical air assault planes
It's a plane. It's a helicopter. It's both. Meet "FLRAA," the Army's new tiltrotor for Future Long-Range Air Assault. This is how the Army will island hop in the Pacific to fend off China. And by the way, Chinese President Xi Jinping has nothing like it. With a stunning announcement, the Army did more than ax 40 generals and open the door to AI. The Army bet its future on this radical aircraft, whose engines swivel to take off and land like a helicopter, or fly high and fast like an airplane. This aircraft was on pace to enter the Army inventory in the early 2030s. Then came the Army shake-up. On May 1, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the Army to focus more on the Indo-Pacific. In that region, sheer distance and Chinese missile threat rings are locking out current helicopters. For the mission of air assault – when troops move into hostile and contested areas by rotary-wing aircraft – the hard truth is that the Army has a looming capability gap. "We can't actually do the large-scale, long-range air assault today" with the speed and distance required in modern warfare, Maj. Gen. Brett Sylvia, commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, said last year. That's unacceptable, given Xi's growing appetite for military confrontation. So now the Army wants its revolutionary plane ASAP. On Wednesday, May 7, Army Chief of Staff General Randy George told Congress he wants to move it up several years, "into the 2028 timeframe." Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll said he met with prime contractor Bell Textron to talk about a rush order. It's easy to see why. The acronym-happy Army says "FLRAA" will fly 1,700 nautical miles without refueling and carry 12 passengers at a speed near 300 mph. Compare that to the 183 mph for the Black Hawk helicopter it is replacing. For pilots, the extra range, speed and survivability of a tiltrotor is a huge improvement on a helicopter. With a tiltrotor, they can zoom all over the battlespace with impunity and land any time, any place, in any conditions. You may be familiar with the V-22 Osprey, which first flew in 1989 and is now flown by the Marine Corps, Navy and U.S. Air Force special operations forces. As the first operational tiltrotor, the V-22 has had ups and downs, but beyond question, the V-22 proved itself in combat in Afghanistan. In another vivid example, in 2013, three battle-damaged Air Force MV-22s flew 500 miles from South Sudan to Entebbe, Uganda, spewing fuel, to save the lives of wounded Navy SEALs aboard. No wonder the Army pounced on the tiltrotor concept. However, the Army FLRAA is an all-new design based on the prototype V-280 Valor, which first flew in 2017. It is slightly smaller than the V-22, with a 47-foot fuselage consisting of an aluminum structure and carbon fiber composite skin. The big advance for "FLRAA" is in the tilt mechanism. On the older V-22, the whole engine nacelle housing pivoted. For the Army's aircraft, that headache is gone. The two engine nacelles stay put on the wing. Only the propellors rotate, to switch between helicopter and airplane mode. This is much safer, and the improved rotor design also increases agility and maneuverability in low-speed flight while in helicopter mode. The other major difference is that the Army's tiltrotor is designed as a multi-mission aircraft. Door guns on each side mark it as a dedicated air assault platform. Contrast that with the V-22 which only has a tail gun. The new Army tiltrotor also carries so-called "launched effects," which is military lingo for a variety of drones, such as self-protection decoys released to divert enemy fire, sensor drones to hunt targets, drones that do electronic warfare jamming and of course weapons drones for the kill. With its range capability, the Army tiltrotor can drive these drones deep into the battlespace. With drone operations in mind, software matters, so the plane has an open systems digital backbone ready to plug in new systems anytime. Even more intriguing, the FLRAA has the potential to fly by itself. At 240 knots it can deploy from Hawaii to the Philippines in 20 hours. In the future, "FLRAA" may also be able to self-deploy, moving to the theater by flying autonomously as an unmanned aircraft and rejoining with crews at a forward location. It's easy to see why. The acronym-happy Army says "FLRAA" will fly 1,700 nautical miles without refueling and carry 12 passengers at a speed near 300 mph. Compare that to the 183 mph for the Black Hawk helicopter it is replacing. The Army sees the Pacific islands like a chessboard. If China threatens, the tiltrotor "FLRAA" can move soldiers rapidly to land in contested areas and block Chinese forces from taking over. Now the Army just needs to give its radical new plane a proper name.
