Bell Boeing's Quad Tiltrotor (QTR) transport concept has moved a step closer towards becoming a reality, with windtunnel testing of a 1/5th-scale model having been completed at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia last week. The QTR could be a possible contender to meet the US Army's planned vertical take-off and landing Joint Heavy Lift aircraft requirement.
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Source: Flight International
Although battlefield observations from the Ukraine War led the army to cancel its next-generation armed scout helicopter, the service’s senior aviation leaders say they still see a need for Bell’s V-280 Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft in future conflicts.
Last June during a business event in Connecticut, Sikorsky president Paul Lemmo said the company’s VH-92A Patriot helicopter would take over presidential transport missions flown by VH-3D and VH-60N helicopters “completely” by this spring. That still has not happened.
The Raider X prototype, built for the US Army’s now-cancelled Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft programme, features the new GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engine that will eventually be fitted into the army’s UH-60 Black Hawk fleet.
