Fort Worth, TX - April 10, 2013 - Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company (NYSE: TXT), revealed today the Bell V-280
Valor™, its offering for the Joint Multi Role/Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Technology Demonstrator (JMR/TD), at the 2013 Army Aviation Association of America's (AAAA)
Annual Professional Forum and Exposition in Fort Worth.
"The introduction of the Bell V-280 Valor underscores our commitment to our military customers. The Bell V-280's unmatched capabilities in speed, range and payload, and its operational agility combine to deliver the best value for the U.S Army," said John Garrison, president and CEO at Bell Helicopter. "This aircraft is the most advanced and operationally effective vertical lift solution, providing the Warfighter a decisive advantage. The name itself makes an important statement of its own: V representing vertical lift, 280 representing its unmatched speed, and Valor as a tribute to the service men and women who approach their jobs with valor every day."
The Bell V-280 Valor, Bell Helicopter's third generation tiltrotor, offers the U.S. Army the highest levels of maturity and technical readiness. With its U.S. Army-centric design, the Bell V-280 has the capacity to perform a multitude of missions with unparalleled speed and agility. The Bell V-280's clean sheet design reduces complexity compared to previous generation tiltrotors, with fewer parts, as well as non-rotating, fixed engines. The Valor delivers the best value in procurement, operations and support, and force structure, providing increased maintainability, component reliability and systems designed to reduce operational and support costs.
"The Bell V-280 is a combat multiplier with a cruise speed of 280 knots and combat range of up to 800 nautical miles. Tiltrotor is the only vertical lift platform that can rapidly self-deploy to any theater," said Mitch Snyder, executive vice-president for military programs at Bell Helicopter. "And our technology demonstrator is a true medium class aircraft accommodating a crew of four and 11 troops, which translates to the highest level of certainty for a future program of record."
The Bell V-280 Valor's Army-centric design boasts a number of unmatched capabilities and transformational features including:
Speed: 280 KTAS cruise speed
Combat range: 500-800nm
Strategically Self-Deployable - 2100nm Range
Achieves 6k/95
Non-rotating, fixed engines
Triple redundant fly-by-wire flight control system
Conventional, retractable landing gear
Two 6' wide large side doors for ease of ingress/egress
Suitable down wash
Significantly smaller logistical footprint compared to other aircraft
"Bell Helicopter is leading the development of next-generation tiltrotor technology, because it's the best technology for future vertical lift. The U.S. Army's JMR/TD Operational Effectiveness Analysis Report stated that advantages in speed and fuel efficiency made the tiltrotor the most operationally effective concept aircraft," said Snyder. "Based on a strong foundation of 55 years of tiltrotor experience, including combat-proven platforms, Bell Helicopter has created the ultimate solution for the Army's FVL needs."
Bell Helicopter is the world's premier tiltrotor expert ranging from first generation XV-3 and XV-15, to the second generation 609 civil tiltrotor and the combat-proven V-22 Osprey. Backed by unmatched experience, Bell Helicopter is building a team of premier aerospace leaders, the best engineering resources and industrial capabilities in the industry to meet the U.S. Army's needs.
About Bell Helicopter
Bell Helicopter, a wholly owned subsidiary of Textron Inc., is an industry-leading producer of commercial and military, manned and unmanned vertical-lift aircraft and the pioneer of the revolutionary tiltrotor aircraft. Globally recognized for world-class customer service, innovation and superior quality, Bell's global workforce serves customers flying Bell aircraft in more than 120 countries.
About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell Helicopter, Cessna Aircraft Company, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, Greenlee, and Textron Systems. More information is available at www.textron.com.
Certain statements in this press release may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update them. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement, including, but not limited to, changing priorities or reductions in the U.S. Government defense budget, including those related to military operations in foreign countries; our ability to perform as anticipated and to control costs under contracts with the U.S. Government; the U.S. Government's ability to unilaterally modify or terminate its contracts with us for the U.S. Government's convenience or for our failure to perform, to change applicable procurement and accounting policies, or, under certain circumstances, to withhold payment or suspend or debar us as a contractor eligible to receive future contract awards; the efficacy of research and development investments to develop new products or unanticipated expenses in connection with the launching of significant new products or programs; the timing of our new product launches or certifications of our new aircraft products; and our ability to keep pace with our competitors in the introduction of new products and upgrades with features and technologies desired by our customers.
