Bell’s V-280 Valor Technology Demonstrator Retires from Flight Written 25 June 2021
A V-280 Valor prototype takes flight at the 2019 Alliance Air Show in Fort Worth, TX | Danazar/Wikipedia; CC BY-SA 4.0
Defense News reports that on Thursday, Bell announced that its “future vertical lift technology demonstrator, the V-280 Valor tiltrotor, has finished its flying career.” Bell “will continue into the second phase of the risk-reduction effort ‘to provide initial preliminary designs for major subsystems and the conceptual weapons system, based on data-proven performance that ensures transformational capabilities will be delivered in line with the Army’s schedule,’ the company said in” a statement. Although Bell’s “first V-280 technology demonstrator is retiring, the technology and lessons learned from the first aircraft will live on in the company’s solution that will be submitted for” the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition.
Full Story (Defense News)