Tag Archives: HSVTOL

Air, Air Force, Unmanned Systems

HSVTOL aircraft

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, announced on September 19, 2022 it has entered into a teaming agreement with Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), a global aerospace and national security company, for Bell’s High-Speed Vertical Takeoff and Landing (HSVTOL) aircraft. As part of the collaboration, SNC will specifically support the design and development of mission systems for HSVTOL variants.

HSVTOL
Teaming agreement signed to add mission systems support for new Bell aircraft development

Bell’s HSVTOL vehicles blend the hover capability of a helicopter with the speed, range and survivability features of fighter aircraft, with low downwash hover capability and jet-like speeds of more than 400 kts/460 mph/741 km/h. This family of scalable aircraft concepts is designed to carry out USAF and USSOCOM missions across the full spectrum of conflict and political scenarios, including personnel recovery, contested logistics and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR)/Strike.

«In an effort to advance technical maturity and deliver HSVTOL capability to warfighters sooner, Bell is assembling a team of industry-leading partners. We’re thrilled to have SNC onboard», said Jason Hurst, vice president, Innovation, Bell. «We’ve made significant progress in Bell’s HSVTOL technology development in 2022, and we look forward to showing this progress in the upcoming year».

«SNC is delighted to join the Bell’s HSVTOL development team, and we are already hard at work to deliver the visionary mission systems that Bell demands for their visionary aircraft», says Derek Hess, vice president, strategic program business development at SNC. «Our nation’s warfighters will benefit from this HSVTOL program’s ground-breaking operational capabilities».

Similar to Bell’s innovation development, SNC continues to leverage its mission systems expertise to explore dynamic new opportunities. SNC also supports Bell with additional mission systems expertise for the development of the Bell 360 Invictus for the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competition.

Bell is currently executing its HSVTOL risk reduction effort and participating in the AFwerX HSVTOL Concept Challenge, a crowdsourcing effort for the United States Air Force (USAF) and United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). Bell is one of 11 companies from more than 200 challenge entrants selected to receive market research investments aimed at advancing HSVTOL technology.

Air

Design Concepts

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. company, announced on August 2, 2021 the unveiling of design concepts for new aircraft systems for military applications which would use Bell’s High-Speed Vertical Take-Off and Landing (HSVTOL) technology as the company continues its innovation of next generation vertical lift aircraft. HSVTOL technology blends the hover capability of a helicopter with the speed, range and survivability features of a fighter aircraft.

HSVTOL
Bell Unveils New High-Speed Vertical Take-Off and Landing Design Concepts for Military Application

«Bell’s HSVTOL technology is a step change improvement in rotorcraft capabilities», said Jason Hurst, vice president, Innovation. «Our technology investments have reduced risk and prepared us for rapid development of HSVTOL in a digital engineering environment, leveraging experience from a robust past of technology exploration and close partnerships with the Department of Defense and Research Laboratories».

Bell’s HSVTOL design concepts include the following features:

  • Low downwash hover capability;
  • Jet-like cruise speeds over 400 kts/460 mph/741 km/h;
  • True runway independence and hover endurance;
  • Scalability to the range of missions from unmanned personnel recovery to tactical mobility;
  • Aircraft gross weights range from 4,000 lbs./1,814 kg to over 100,000 lbs./45,359 kg

Bell’s HSVTOL capability is critical to future mission needs offering a range of aircraft systems with enhanced runway independence, aircraft survivability, mission flexibility and enhanced performance over legacy platforms. With the convergence of tiltrotor aircraft capabilities, digital flight control advancements and emerging propulsion technologies, Bell is primed to evolve HSVTOL technology for modern military missions to serve the next generation of warfighters.

Bell has explored high-speed vertical lift aircraft technology for more than 85 years, pioneering innovative VTOL configurations like the X-14, X-22, XV-3 and XV-15 for NASA, the U.S Army and U.S. Air Force. The lessons learned from the XV-3 and XV-15 supported the development of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor, an invaluable platform that changed the way the U.S. military conducts amphibious assault, long range infiltration and exfiltration and resupply with a cruise speed and range twice that of helicopters it replaced.