Side View Of The First Bell V-280 Valor Next-Generation Tilt-Rotor Aircraft Prototype

From this point of view it appears even more futuristic….

As reported yesterday, the first prototype of V-280 Valor, Bell’s candidate to the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD), in the running to replace the service’s Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters as part of the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program, was spotted at Bell Helicopter Amarillo Assembly Center attached to an engine test stand in preparation for the engine tests required ahead of its first flight scheduled next month.

In this post you can see a photograph, submitted by a source who wishes to remain anonymous, that provides a side view of the V-280 prototype, registered N280BH.

Along with the retractable landing gear, a triple-redundant fly by wire control system, and a V-tail configuration, the main V-280 feature is the futuristic tilting gearbox design where the output shaft is connected to the drive system through a spiral bevel gearbox that transfers power to the fixed gearbox and proprotor gearbox, which rotates on two big spherical bearings driven by a conversion actuator mechanism. In this way, the gearbox is the only thing that rotates whereas the engines do not. Moreover, a driveshaft runs through the straight wing, allowing both prop rotors to be driven by a single engine in case of engine loss.

Side view of the V-280 prototype clearly visible outside Bell Helicopter/Textron Plant in Amarillo, Texas.
About David Cenciotti
David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.