First Flight Planned For Later This Fall

The Bell V-280 Valor prototype aircraft has successfully achieved ground run testing at 100% rotor RPM. The aircraft will continue ground run testing at the Bell Helicopter Amarillo Assembly Center where it will undergo a series of functional tests running all aircraft systems and flight controls in preparation for first flight this fall.

The V-280 Valor tiltrotor is designed to provide unmatched speed, range, payload, agility, survivability and endurance at an affordable cost, according to Bell Helicopter. It converts vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability into a tactical, operational and strategic advantage for the warfighter.

The aircraft capitalizes on the more than 325,000 V-22 fleet flight hours, and leverages Bell Helicopter’s decades of tiltrotor experience to make it the warfighter’s optimum solution for flexible strategic options, operational reach and tactical overmatch at the point of decision. The first flight of the V-280 Valor is scheduled for the second half of 2017.

The V-280 is a clean sheet next-generation tiltrotor - applying lessons learned from nearly six decades of tiltrotor expertise to create groundbreaking simplicity and deliver transformational, affordable technology to alter the course of vertical flight.

(Image provided with Bell Helicopter media release)

FMI: www.bellhelicopter.com