Bell’s V-280 Tiltrotor Getting New Long-Range Sensors
By Debbie Gregory.
The Bell V-280 Valor helicopter will soon be equipped a sensor system that will give pilots an early warning when enemy activity is approaching.
Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the Pilotage Distributed Aperture Sensor (PDAS) system provides “360-degree awareness around your aircraft via sensors,” said retired Army Maj. Gen. Jeff Schloesser, executive vice president for strategic pursuits at Bell.
The head-tracked helmet-mounted display feeds pilots video from the 360-degree sensor devices.
The V-280 Valor provides warfighters strategic options, operational reach, tactical agility and overmatch at the point of decision. The design supports ground maneuvers and is purpose built for the squad plus enablers.
With more than twice the speed and range of current helicopter platforms, the V-280 Valor is designed to fly an infantry squad on a 200-mile air assault mission and return to base without the need to refuel.
Safe and survivable, the design features integrated cabin armor, fly-by-wire component redundancy, state of the art countermeasures and performance.
Beyond the increased functionality, it should be more comfortable, too. Because the V-280’s wing doesn’t tilt like a V-22, a necessity for shipboard operations, fast-ropers leaving the aircraft’s side-door avoid “the hot air from the engine going out backwards,” Schloesser said.
“If you’ve got a new car, you’ve probably got a TV camera in the back so when you back up you don’t back into something,” Schloesser said.
But this new technology expands that view to 360 degrees.
The V-280 isn’t designed for ship launches, but in a pinch, takeoff from the deck of a carrier would be possible.
Bell is working to finalize its V-280 Valor, making sure it can meet its performance goals.
The Valor has demonstrated that it can fly at 195 knots, but it will soon be able to reach a max speed of 280 knots, Schloesser said.
