The Bell Helicopter company officially presented a new army tiltrotor aircraft V-280 Valor. Presentation was held on the 1st of August on the territory of test site (polygon) Bell Helicopter Amarillo Assembly Center in Texas state, “Warpost” reposts with reference to the press-service of the company. Until this the public demonstration of possibilities of the tiltrotor aircraft was not held, at the air show in Farnborough in 2016 full sized layout of V-280 Valor was shown to the public.
V-280 Valor is created by the company Bell Helicopter as one of the pretender to replace the V-22 Osprey, park of which the American army is planning to replace by 2030. V-280 smaller and easier than V-22 Osprey, and can accommodate just 12 people plus members of crew, whereas landing versions of V-22 accommodate up to 36 people. The main advantage of a new tiltrotor aircraft, the developers think, is a lower cost with better flight performance. Unlike its predecessor V-22 Osprey, V-280 Valor has not removable swivel wing, what is significantly reduces the weight of machine and has not the rotary engine – the position changes only the rotor of the screw. Unlike V-22 Osprey, which has not its staff armament, the new machine initially is developed for combat actions.
The V-280 has a fully composite fuselage, capable of speeds of up to 518 km/h, a combat radius of flight is 1,500 km, a maximum range of flight is 3,900 km.