What's That Tell You About Pentagon Confidence In The Technology?

It would look a lot like the V-22 -- only there would be so much more of it. Just days before the Pentagon is expected to approve full production of the Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, the US Army has awarded the Bell/Boeing tiltrotor team a $3.45 million contract to develop a bigger, more powerful version of the hybrid vehicle. It will have four wings and four engines, be able to carry a 40,000 pound vehicle 250 miles in temperatures of 95F and has to be developed within 18-months.

For Boeing and Bell, that should be no problem.

Four other companies are in on the bidding, including Boeing alone, which will come up with a helicopter version of the Joint Heavy Lift aircraft.

But it's the Bell/Boeing team that the handicappers who closely watch military aviation are betting on. After all, that particular team has decades of experience in developing the tiltrotor concept.

The Quad Tiltrotor would virtually double many of the capabilities of the V-22. Whereas the Osprey is built to carry 24 soldiers or ten tons of equipment, the Quad would carry 132 troops or 20 tons of equipment up to 1,000 miles at 350 mph.

Will it work? We'll check back in 18 months... or less.

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.pma275.navair.navy.mil