17 décembre 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre
By: Jen Judson
WASHINGTON — Bell's technology demonstrator designed to show the Army the realm of the possible in Future Vertical Lift capability has flown 200 hours since its first flight three years ago, according to Keith Flail, the company's executive vice president for advanced vertical lift systems.
The V-280 Valor tiltrotor parted ways with the tarmac for the first time on Dec. 18, 2017, at 1:59 p.m. CDT at a Bell facility in Amarillo, Texas. Defense News reported the flight as the aircraft was still in the air, but the aircraft logged roughly 15 to 20 minutes before returning to solid ground.
Since then Bell's clean-sheet-designed aircraft has flown more than 150 sorties, Flail told Defense News in a recent interview, and the extensive effort has driven down risk for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program for the U.S. Army.
Valor hit the 200 flight hour mark on Dec. 4, Flail said.
The Army wants to field FLRAA — an aircraft expected to fly twice as fast and twice as far as a conventional helicopter — by 2030.
Bell is gearing up to compete head-to-head with a Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky and Boeing team, which built the only other flying technology demonstrator in the effort leading up to a program of record. The SB-1 Defiant coaxial helicopter flew for the first time in March 2019 after struggling with rotor blade manufacturing problems and working through other more minor kinks.
Both companies have entered a competitive development and risk reduction phase awarded in March 2020 ahead of the FLRAA program. The Army announced this month that it intends to proceed into a competition between just Sikorsky-Boeing and Bell to produce FLRAA.
Valor has been put through its paces, completing key performance parameters and continuing to prove out possible threshold and objective requirements for FLRAA.
The aircraft had its first public flight in June 2018 where it reached cruising speeds of 195 knots and was put through its paces in hover mode.
In May 2019, the aircraft completed low-speed agility maneuver testing — which made up the final key performance parameters left to prove out with the system as part of the technology demonstration phase.
Valor flew autonomously for the first time a year ago. The aircraft performed an autonomous takeoff, conversion into cruise mode, precision navigation to various waypoints, loiter maneuvers, conversion into vertical-takeoff-and-landing mode, and landed autonomously.
Other achievements include demonstrating an integrated system from Lockheed Martin that provides the pilots and aircrew a 360-degree view through the skin of the aircraft in the spring of 2019.
And in early 2020, Bell also integrated the Tactical Common Data Link and transmitted information between Valor and the ground station to include basic flight data and showed it would be able to provide targeting information to help long-range precision fires weapons hit targets more accurately, according to a Dec. 17 company statement.
In the same flight, Bell demonstrated sling-load capability, Flail said. “During a single sortie, the team performed multiple cargo lifts to demonstrate the procedure and coordination of ground crew, aircraft, crew chief, pilots and the behavior of the loads for the V-280,” the statement notes.
Over the course of the technology demonstration period, Flail added, the aircraft was also able to show its reliability and availability.
“This configuration of tiltrotor really shows how robust it is in terms of reliability and availability because one of the tricks with proving that is you have to accumulate enough data to show that you do have a reliable system,” he said. “A lot of your critical items, your gearboxes and your blades ... those are typical cost drivers downstream and today, we still have the original six blades and gearboxes on this aircraft.”
25 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
Jen DiMascio Michael Bruno Will the coronavirus pandemic completely change how the defense budget is prioritized nationally? Steve Grundman, principal of Grundman Advisory, joins Aviation Week editors. https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/podcast-what-covid-19-portends-defense-now-future
14 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Posted on July 14, 2020; Boeing Press Release The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a nearly US$1.2 billion contract to build the first lot of eight F-15EX advanced fighter jets to help the service meet its capacity requirements and add capability to its fighter fleet. The award also covers support and one-time, upfront engineering costs. Already under construction at the Boeing F-15 production facility in St. Louis, the first two jets deliver next year. The U.S. Air Force is also announcing the overall indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract with a ceiling value of nearly US$23 billion for F-15EX aircraft. “The F-15EX is the most advanced version of the F-15 ever built, due in large part to its digital backbone,” said Lori Schneider, Boeing F-15EX program manager. “Its unmatched range, price and best-in-class payload capacity make the F-15EX an attractive choice for the U.S. Air Force.” The F-15EX carries more weapons than any other fighter in its class, and can launch hypersonic weapons up to 22 feet long and weighing up to 7,000 pounds. To further support the digital airframe and advance rapid technology insertion, the F-15 program serves as a pathfinder for the Department of Defense's DevSecOps initiative, aimed at developing secure, flexible and agile software. Additionally, open mission systems architecture ensures its viability for decades. “F-15EX brings together benefits of digital engineering, open mission systems and agile software development to keep it affordable and upgradeable for decades to come,” said Prat Kumar, Boeing vice-president and F-15 program manager. “This means we can rapidly test and field new capabilities on F-15EX keeping our warfighters ahead of threats.” Pilots and mechanics currently operating the F-15 anticipate transitioning to the F-15EX in a matter of days as opposed to years. Future plans call for as many as 144 aircraft. “We listened to our customer every step of the way when developing this exciting jet,” said Kumar. “What we will soon deliver is a modern and robust aircraft that supports our nation's defense by incorporating the latest systems, sensors and weapons.” https://www.skiesmag.com/press-releases/boeing-and-u-s-air-force-ink-historic-deal-for-f-15ex-fighter-jet/
19 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Spain, June 16, 2020 - Indra, one of the world's leading global technology and consulting companies has made significant progress in its role as a national industrial coordinator in Spain and the leader of four of the eight core elements of the European Defence program NGWS / FCAS (Next Generation Weapon System / Future Combat Air System). Today, Indra signed the General Protocol that establishes the commitment given by Spanish companies to the Ministry of Defence in the program that will define the future of the Defence industry in Europe. The document sets out the responsibilities that the Ministry has assigned to each of these companies to provide Spain's Armed Forces with the required capabilities and at the same time to increase the sector's strategic autonomy. Ángel Olivares, Secretary of State, signed the agreement on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, while Ignacio Mataix, Managing Director for Transport and Defence signed on behalf of Indra. By signing this protocol, Indra strengthens its role as coordinator of Spanish industry within the program and as representative to the industrial coordinators appointed by France and Germany, Dassault and Airbus, respectively. In addition, this consolidates Indra's position as the Spanish leader of four of the eight core elements on which the program has been structured. The company leads the two main crossover elements (the system's Concept Study and the one related to coherence among other project elements), together with Dassault and Airbus. In addition, Indra is responsible for two of the technological elements: Sensors and the System of Systems, which involves the development efforts required to ensure that the different systems in each of the technological elements of the project can be managed as a whole, thus facilitating operations in Combat Cloud mode. Indra has made significant progress in its role as national coordinator and leader of four of the project's core elements. The company already signed an agreement with the coordinators from France (Dassault) and Germany (Airbus) to join the Joint Concept Study (JCS) that France and Germany started in February 2019. The contract that will make Indra a co-contractor together with Dassault and Airbus Germany is under final review, with the signing scheduled in the next few weeks. Since March this year, Indra has been negotiating its adherence to the ongoing contracts of Phase 1A Demonstrators, launched by France and Germany on February 20th, 2020 and related to the other program elements led by Indra. At that time, the Spanish Government signed a letter of intent to adhere to this new phase of the program and it is expected to be formalized at the end of July this year. In the meantime, the contractual amendments necessary for Spanish companies to join this Phase 1A will be made and expanded to other elements that were initially left out of the contract agreed by France and Germany; such as the Sensors element of the program. The signing of this Protocol with Spain's Ministry of Defence represents a new step forward in the implementation of the Spanish industrial strategy for the NGWS / FCAS program, the objective of which is to complete its incorporation as a full member on an equal footing with Germany and France. Indra's role as coordinator in the NGWS / FCAS program is intended to guarantee that Spanish industry reaches the maximum level of participation. Its development will generate significant know-how and added value for Spanish companies and will provide them with the opportunity to develop cutting-edge products, both in the Defence and Civil fields. Indra's appointment as the national industrial coordinator of the program ensures the maximum return of the program for Spanish industry and ownership of the technologies developed by its companies. Indra's commitment as the national coordinator in Spain is to ensure maximum return and for the NGWS/FCAS program to achieve the highest quality for Spanish industry as a whole (Defence and Civil). This all be achieved via business generation, development of its export capacity, creation of technologies that can also be used in the civil sphere and creation of high-value employment. Indra, as national coordinator, will represent the interests of Spanish industry as a whole, respecting the independence of the different companies involved in the project and strengthening its position in relation to companies from other participating nations. It is estimated that in the next decades the program will generate investments of billions of euros both in the development phase and later in the production phase. The first estimates indicate a potential economic value of the program of 300 billion euros in the next 40 years. About Indra Indra (www.indracompany.com) is one of the leading global technology and consulting companies and the technology partner for key business operations for clients worldwide. It is a leading global provider of proprietary solutions in specific segments of the Transport and Defence markets, and a leading company in digital transformation consulting and Information Technology in Spain and Latin America through its subsidiary Minsait. Its business model is based on a comprehensive range of proprietary products, with an end-to-end approach, high value and a high component of innovation. At the end of financial year 2019, Indra reported revenues of 3.204 billion euros, more than 49,000 employees, a local presence in 46 countries, and commercial operations in more than 140 countries. View source version on Indra: https://www.indracompany.com/en/noticia/indra-moves-forward-spains-industrial-coordinator-leader-four-key-elements-fcas-program