Le Bourget - Hybrid development - Tilt rotor

Bell bullish on V-22 and V-280 tiltrotors

By: DOMINIC PERRY

LONDON

Source: 

16:44 13 Jun 2015

Bell Helicopter arrives at Paris confident that production of the 
V-22 Osprey tiltrotor will extend well into the mid-2020s, despite 
output falling this year to 21 aircraft from 2014’s high of 
37 units.

Produced in partnership with Boeing, the Osprey has so far
secured only the US Marine Corps and US Air Force as
customers. The programme entered into its second multi-year
contract with Washington late last year, guaranteeing production
until 2020.

However, Bell chief executive John Garrison believes further
domestic deals – the US Navy says it intends to procure up to
44 V-22s for its carrier onboard delivery (COD) requirement –
allied to export orders, will secure the programme well into the
middle of next decade.

The COD order, “which would be contracted in the next 18 months”,
and see deliveries in the 2020-21 timeframe, could form the
backbone of a third US multi-year deal, says Garrison.

Japan is likely to be the initial overseas customer, and is hoping
to acquire up to 17 of the tilitrotors via the foreign military sales
route.

Garrison says he anticipates finalising the contract with Tokyo
“sometime this year”. Other countries are “evaluating” the V-22,
he says, although declines to be drawn on whether it is offering
the type to Singapore for its ongoing effort to replace its
aged fleet of 32 Airbus Helicopters AS332/532 Super Puma/
Cougar types.

Bell Helicopter

Israel, however, which had previously expressed its intention
to buy V-22s, has “delayed” any acquisition due to internal
political issues, “but I don’t know for how long”, says Garrison.

Meanwhile, the airframer continues work on the next-
generation V-280 Valor tiltrotor that it is producing in
partnership with Lockheed Martin for the US Army’s joint
multi-role technology demonstrator (JMR-TD) programme.

Long lead items for the first flying prototype are being
manufactured, with final assembly due to begin in October
at Bell’s Amarillo, Texas facility. First flight is scheduled for late
2017.

“The programme is proceeding quite nicely and is on schedule with
our plans,” says Garrison.

It passed the critical design review milestone in July last year,
he says, and development work continues on the control logic for
the Valor’s new fly-by-wire control system.

Despite worries that US defence budget cuts could mean that
JMR-TD will not lead to an eventual production contract, Garrison
remains upbeat and suggests the Department of Defense could
even “accelerate the acquisition process” if it sees that “the
technology is ready and available”.