Zitat:Army Chooses Bell V-280 to Replace Its Black Hawk Helicopters

The U.S. Army has chosen Bell to build a new aircraft that will replace the venerable UH-60 Black Hawk, which has been flying soldiers in combat since the 1970s.
Bell received a $232 million contract on Monday—the first installment of what could be a $7.1 billion deal for development and an initial batch of aircraft.
“It’s a chance to move to the next step in this vital program,” Doug Bush, the Army acquisition chief, said during a Monday evening call with reporters.
It’s a huge win that could be worth more than $70 billion for the Textron-owned company in the coming decades depending on how many aircraft are ordered by the Army and foreign militaries.
“For Textron, it is a generational win that rejuvenates Bell's military franchise,” Cowen analyst Roman Schweizer wrote in an Oct. 12 note to investors. Bell, which pitched the V-280, a tiltrotor aircraft similar to the V-22 Osprey, beat a Sikorsky-Boeing team that had proposed a coaxial helicopter, which uses two stack rotors that spin in opposite directions providing more stability than traditional helicopters. The tiltrotor can takeoff and land vertically like a helicopter, but rotate its propellers forward allowing it to fly at fixed-wing aircraft speeds. “The V-280’s unmatched combination of proven tiltrotor technology coupled with innovative digital engineering and an open architecture offers the Army outstanding operational versatility for its vertical lift fleet,” Bell said in an emailed statement.

Zitat:V-280 improved upon the Bell-Boeing V-22 with its tilting nacelles — rather than the V-22’s tilting engines. In many ways, this win gives Bell a chance to improve upon its tiltrotor technology, with the V-280 specifically designed to leverage lessons learned by developing and fielding the Osprey and the hundreds of thousands of hours flown by the type in some of the world's harshest conditions. Maintainability and affordability are very much design drivers for Valor.

Zitat:At the same time, it is also important to remember that Sikorsky's X2 technology is still very much in the running for the future armed scout reconnaissance helicopter. Some would even posit the Raider X, which shares the same general configuration, but is smaller than Defiant, is the front-runner as it features higher performance than Bell's Invictus 360, which is a standard helicopter design. Maybe Valor and Raider X are just the right dream team the Army can leverage to keep in the fight. If the Army passes over Bell's Invictus, X2 technology would enter production in the form of the Raider X. The technology could then grow into other designs via scaling the concept up and down. In other words, Raider X could reduce risk just like the Osprey did for Valor.

Zitat:GAO WEIST SIKORSKY-PROTEST ZURÜCK

Alles klar bei FLRAA

Das US Government Accountability Office hat einen Protest von Sikorsky gegen die Vergabe des Auftrags für die Entwicklung eines Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft an Bell mit seiner V-280 Valor zurückgewiesen. [...] "Der Beschwerdeführer wandte sich gegen die Vergabe des Auftrags für die Entwicklung des Waffensystems Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) an Bell Textron Inc. aus Fort Worth, Texas, im Rahmen der Ausschreibung Nr. W58RGZ-21-R-0084, die vom Department of the Army, Army Contracting Command-Redstone Arsenal (Army), herausgegeben wurde. [...]

Sikorsky argumentierte auch, dass die Army den Vorschlag von Bell als unannehmbar hätte einstufen müssen. Schließlich wandte sich Sikorsky gegen die Bewertung der Army im Rahmen der Faktoren "Engineering Design and Development" und "Product Supportability", sowie gegen die Bewertung des Kosten/Preis-Verhältnisses und gegen die Entscheidung über den "Best Value Tradeoff" Das GAO wies den Einspruch zurück und kam zu dem Schluss, dass die Army das Angebot von Sikorsky zu Recht als technisch inakzeptabel bewertet hatte, da Sikorsky nicht den in der Ausschreibung geforderten Grad an "architektonischen Details" geliefert hatte. [...]

Das Protestverfahren beim GAO wird vom Büro des General Counsel des GAO durchgeführt und prüft lediglich, ob die beschaffenden Stellen die Gesetze und Vorschriften für die Auftragsvergabe eingehalten haben. Die heutige Entscheidung enthält keine Details, da sie möglicherweise geschützte Informationen der Firmen enthält. [...]

Der voraussichtliche Gesamtwert des Auftrags, einschließlich aller Optionen, beläuft sich auf etwa 7,1 Milliarden Dollar für die Entwicklung. Die Beschaffung könnte einen Wert von 80 Milliarden Dollar erreichen.

Zitat:Tim Malia: "I think the first point to clarify is that our X2-based FARA is not more complex than a BLACK HAWK. In fact, despite having two main rotors, there are one-half the total parts in the S-97 RAIDER rotor head than on a BLACK HAWK. This reduction in complexity and part count saves money from a sustainment perspective with less parts to maintain and spare. To that end, the rigid rotor system no longer has flapping and lead/lag modes which eliminates the dampers that are a routine maintenance element on a BLACK HAWK.

Zitat:Chris Van Buiten: "The most significant servicing difference between the Rigid Coaxial design and a traditional helicopter is that the rigid rotor does not have Main Rotor Dampers. Dampers are typically the highest maintenance items on a helicopter and we do not need them.

Zitat:The other big-picture benefit of X2 will become apparent as the Army looks across their vertical lift inventory. X2 is the only scalable technology on the table for the Army to consider in their diverse missions. The Army today has three very different aircraft types to maintain, support, and grow capability through technology insertions. Tomorrow they could all reside on the X2 platform, scaled to serve the three very different mission sets. As you look at having X2 in both the Attack/Recon and the Utility/Long Range Assault FVL variants, you can start to envision maintenance and flight training commonality across the entire fleet. When the attack replacement occurs, they can be on the common technology platform across the service. This is an enormous opportunity for the Army to reduce future costs of operations.

Zitat:Chris Van Buiten: "S-97 RAIDER will survive on the modern battlefield by being nearly twice as fast, twice as maneuverable, and nearly half the sound. When you combine these attributes, you see game-changing survivability. Our MATRIX autonomy solution will enable RAIDER to operate safely very close to the ground at speed to enhance survivability with acceptable workload.

Zitat:Can you tell us three things we probably don’t know about the S-97 Raider?

Bill Fell: "1. Normal rotor RPM is from 85 to 100% as the rpm decreases automatically with speed to reduce rotor drag.

2. When you fly in helicopter mode with the prop disengaged RAIDER is very quiet.

3. If the engine were to quit at 200+ knots the pilot has on the order of 20-30 seconds of level deceleration holding altitude before he has to lower the collective. The FCC automatically reduces the prop power requirement and energy is fed into the system while decelerating to maintain rotor RPM. This gives the pilot a comparative eternity to search for a forced landing area.

(06.04.2024, 00:33)Quintus Fabius schrieb: Ich dachte bis dato, das System wäre zwingend komplexer und hätte mehr Teile.

Zitat:Vor allem die Aussage zur Manövrierfähigkeit finde ich erstaunlich. Leider wird nicht erläutert warum er doppelt so manövrierfähig sein soll.