HeavyArty Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 So who will be the first to come out with a model of it? Army selects Bell V-280 Valor to replace Black Hawk fleet - Task & Purpose (taskandpurpose.com) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
UH-1Mad Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 that actually hurts my eyes.. the future is here, and it ain't pretty.. 😛 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
spejic Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 3 hours ago, UH-1Mad said: that actually hurts my eyes.. the future is here, and it ain't pretty.. 😛 Yeah, it kind of reminds me of that cartoon style from around a decade ago, with the really big hands and feet but small torso. Way too much engine and tail for that fuselage. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
midnightprowler Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 What has happened to true helicopters?😔 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crash Test Dummy Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 16 minutes ago, midnightprowler said: What has happened to true helicopters?😔 Couldn't hit the speed specified in the design requirements. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ST0RM Posted December 6, 2022 Share Posted December 6, 2022 4 minutes ago, Crash Test Dummy said: Couldn't hit the speed specified in the design requirements. Once it hits the production mode, neither will it. These stripped prototypes aren't reflective of what will become fact. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JohnEB Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 (edited) By the time they hang various ECM boxes on it, it will be slow and ugly! I would have thought a tilt rotor anything would be too expensive for mass buys. My guess it they over-speced (like the RAH-66, and the VIP EH-101, etc) it and it will end up being too expensive. How are the V-22s doing in the field? Maintenance nightmare? I only ask because it took 50 years to go from the XV-3 to the V-22. 🙂 Circa 2000 I was in Texas and did a story on Apaches doing large scale war games. The commander kept one of the last Hueys as his utility hack for running parts and people back to Fort Hood. He told me he loved it because its operating costs were considerably less than a Blackhawk. And he said the young pilots loved the low tech Huey...A real time capsule for the post-Vietnam guys. I predict that this will make a Blackhawk look like a Robinson in comparison. Edited December 7, 2022 by JohnEB Quote Link to post Share on other sites
hawkwrench Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 It looks ugly!!! Tim Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Falcon053 Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 So I wonder how they are going to get that to fit onto C-5s and C-17s? Being a retired Aerial Porter I think of stuff like this. You can get 2 Blackhawks onto a C-17 easy, I think 6 or 8 on a C-5. If you can't rotate the blades and "wing" like an Osprey that might be fun. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HeavyArty Posted December 7, 2022 Author Share Posted December 7, 2022 (edited) Yes, the wing turns to be in-line with the fuselage, the blades fold in, and the tail planes fold down; similar to the Osprey. Edited December 7, 2022 by HeavyArty Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Da SWO Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 160th will put an A/R probe on it, so will the AF. Helicopters are going away, for now tilt-rotor is the new toy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tank Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 6 hours ago, Da SWO said: Helicopters are going away, for now tilt-rotor is the new toy. I agree for the light stuff but the CH-47 and CH-53 will be around a good bit longer. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HeavyArty Posted December 7, 2022 Author Share Posted December 7, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, Tank said: but the CH-47 and CH-53 will be around a good bit longer. Not too much longer. The next step, Bell/Boeing V-44 Quad Rotor. Currently under Army contract in the design phase. Edited December 7, 2022 by HeavyArty Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tank Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 Ok but we also still use B-52 and there has been at least 3 other models pushed out. The 53K is almost to the fleet, I don’t see that going away anytime soon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
josefgarcia69 Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 3 hours ago, HeavyArty said: Not too much longer. The next step, Bell/Boeing V-44 Quad Rotor. Currently under Army contract in the design phase. Reminds me the movie "Edge of Tomorrow"... :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JohnEB Posted December 7, 2022 Share Posted December 7, 2022 The U.S. likes to improve old designs rather than start with a clean sheet of paper. The UH-1 first flew in 1955 and variants are still in service, likewise the Chinook isn't much newer. The H-53 series is over 50 years old. As has been pointed out, the B-52, KC-135 and C-130 are old designs and the 130 is still in production. Heck, even the planes I think of as fairly new...the F-15, 16 and 18 are 50 years old. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Da SWO Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 12 hours ago, Tank said: Ok but we also still use B-52 and there has been at least 3 other models pushed out. The 53K is almost to the fleet, I don’t see that going away anytime soon. Agree here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HeavyArty Posted December 8, 2022 Author Share Posted December 8, 2022 (edited) I agree that the H-53 and Chinook will still be around for quite some time. For that matter, so will the Black Hawk. The V-280 is not supposed to even be ready to begin fielding until at least 2030, we shall see if they can do it that quickly. Also, it will take quite a while to replace Black Hawks as new V-280s become available. They will be around for a long time still. Edited December 8, 2022 by HeavyArty Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Mr Matt Foley Posted December 8, 2022 Share Posted December 8, 2022 I can't even imagine the cost of these new aircraft and the delays with extra costs that Bell will toss at the Army. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted December 10, 2022 Share Posted December 10, 2022 (edited) On 12/8/2022 at 9:21 AM, Mr Matt Foley said: I can't even imagine the cost of these new aircraft and the delays with extra costs that Bell will toss at the Army. As compared to the folks at Sikorsky, with their on-time, on-budget CH-53 Kilo? I'll put my money on Bell for this program. Plus, does anyone realize how frickin' big the Sikorsky helo is? The thing is a whale. Edited December 10, 2022 by 11bee Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Da SWO Posted December 10, 2022 Share Posted December 10, 2022 Size-wise, it's comparable to helicopters already in the inventory. Blackhawk comparison: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
midnightprowler Posted December 10, 2022 Share Posted December 10, 2022 They should go back to the Huey.😁 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sarathi S. Posted December 11, 2022 Share Posted December 11, 2022 On 12/7/2022 at 8:53 AM, HeavyArty said: Not too much longer. The next step, Bell/Boeing V-44 Quad Rotor. Currently under Army contract in the design phase. I've been hearing that "under contract" about QTR since 2007. And there has been nothing to show for it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K5054NZ Posted December 17, 2022 Share Posted December 17, 2022 I've wanted a model since the aircraft itself was first announced! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MHaz Posted December 22, 2022 Share Posted December 22, 2022 The V-280 prototype was deliberately built with oversize tail surfaces so there would not be any issues with stability during testing. This is not uncommon for preproduction/flight test aircraft. Look at the YF-22 compared to the production F-22 - same thing: oversize tail surfaces to enhance stability. The V-280 was flying test and demo flights while the Sikorsky team was still working out bugs and bending their aircraft every time they flew. Bell did a PUBLIC demo of the V-280 at the 2019 Fort Worth Air Show (I was there for that, in the Bell pavilion). You don't do a public, airshow demo of an experimental aircraft unless you're 10,000% sure it's going to go flawlessly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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