Defence

Bell Helicopter is rapidly expanding its interests in the unmanned air systems (UAS) market, with several new vehicles under review even as its first Eagle Eye pre-production aircraft is prepared for its flight debut next month. The manufacturer last week opened a UAS centre of excellence in Grason, Texas, to serve as a flight-test base for the Eagle Eye and the proving ground for UAS concepts.

The initial mission of the new centre – an abandoned airstrip that Bell last used in the 1970s – is to qualify the Eagle Eye for launch customer the US Coast Guard. The full-scale prototype has completed successful ground tests, says John Ellithorpe, Bell’s executive director for vertical unmanned aircraft programmes. The TR918 Eagle Eye is being moved to Grason ahead of its planned first flight in January, with hover tests expected to lead to the first transition to horizontal flight by late 2006. The USCG plans to order 45 Eagle Eyes and 33 ground control stations for a planned in-service date of 2010-11.

The Eagle Eye is expected to follow General Atomics’ Altair in securing an experimental airworthiness certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration. This will outline flight restrictions including the need to operate the vehicle within visual contact of ground operators or chase aircraft at all times.

Bell is also starting work on a range of tiltrotor- and helicopter-based designs for new unmanned aircraft, including derivatives of the 407, OH-58D, 206 JetRanger, Bell Agusta BA609 and new concepts for logistics and medical evacuation, says Ellithorpe.

STEPHEN TRIMBLE/FORT WORTH