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PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Textron Inc (NYSE: TXT) announced today that Bell Textron Inc., a Textron company, has been awarded the development contract for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program. The award is based on Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor that was developed and tested as part of the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program that began in 2013. The V-280 progressed through design, manufacturing, and more than three years of rigorous flight testing that provided extensive data validating the technical and operational advantages of the aircraft for the long-range assault mission. "We are honored that the U.S. Army...

A number of European countries have shown interest in the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, Navy Recognition has learned during the Surface Navy Association's (SNA) National Symposium held last week near Washington DC. Among them are the UK, France, Italy and Spain. Artist impression showing a US Navy V-22 in a COD mission. Image: Bell "We will brief a number of European countries on the V-22 in February. If international partners orders can be added to the US order as part of Multi Year 3, it could drive the V-22 price down" said John R. Parker, Senior Manager, Tiltrotor Global Sales...

The UAE Joint Aviation Command (JAC) will acquire three AgustaWestland AW609 tiltrotors for search and rescue missions, the command announced on November 10 at the Dubai Airshow. The JAC will be the launch customer for the SAR variant of the twin-engine tiltrotor. The JAC’s selection of the AW609 gives the program a needed boost following the October 30 crash of an AW609 prototype in Italy that claimed the lives of two crewmembers. UAE military officers did not express concern about the aircraft during the press conference. Plans call for deliveries to the JAC to begin in 2019. The command also...

According to Darpa “ARES is a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) flight module designed to operate as an unmanned platform capable of transporting a variety of payloads. The ARES VTOL flight module is designed to have its own power system, fuel, digital flight controls and remote command-and-control interfaces. Twin tilting ducted fans will provide efficient hovering and landing capabilities in a compact configuration, with rapid conversion to high-speed cruise flight.” ARES is the transformer-like, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) capable to move between an airport, a warship, or an improvised landing zone and the battlefield, and perform a wide variety of...

HONOLULU — The Marine Corps will base two squadrons of its latest transport aircraft, the Osprey, and one light attack helicopter squadron at Kaneohe Bay, the Department of the Navy said Wednesday. The MV-22 Osprey takes off like a helicopter and flies like an airplane. The Marine base will have 24 Osprey aircraft in total. The Marines won't use Ospreys to train at Kalaupapa on Molokai as earlier proposed, out of concern the aircraft could affect archaeological resources next to the airport, the Navy said in the document announcing the decision. The Navy made the decision after issuing an environmental...

Bell Helicopter engineers have resolved a performance anomaly that test pilots had discovered when flying the hybrid aircraft in conventional flight mode, also known as the zero-degree position of the nacelles. The BA609 is a six- to nine-passenger corporate aviation tiltrotor, a product the companies expect to begin delivering in 2011. According to Roy Hopkins, Bell's chief test pilot for the BA609, both prototype aircraft had been exhibiting a differential torque between the two prop-rotors in flight tests, causing a left-turning tendency at cruise speeds. The companies are flight testing one aircraft at Bell in the USA and the other...

ST. LOUIS, July 14, 2005 – The V-22 Osprey had a “coming out” of sorts yesterday, when VMX-22, the U.S. Marine Corps Tiltrotor Test and Evaluation Squadron in New River, N.C., hosted media from around the nation. The event was held to share highlights of the recently completed Operational Test and Evaluation and provide a look at where the program currently is and what milestones are yet to come. Those in attendance had the experience of a lifetime when they became some of the first non-government personnel to fly on board a V-22. “The VMX-22 squadron, led by Col. Glenn...

Marines and the Osprey How V-22 Is Progressing and What the Users Think By Margaret Bone Who knows for sure if the Marine Corps really does have a crystal ball that reveals the future, or if there's a swami burning incense at Quantico, or if a bunch of cammied-up psychics are reading tea leaves in the basement of the Pentagon. Whatever it is, the decision made years ago by the Marine Corps to acquire the V-22 Osprey is about to pay off in double digits. It is precisely the right platform for the world of the 21st century, although the...

In one of the strongest indications to date of the US Marine Corps' (USMC's) continued determination to field tilt-rotors and other transformational aircraft types, the service has announced plans to establish a 'centre of excellence' to oversee the future development of the MV-22 Osprey and emerging concepts such as a quad tilt-rotor transport and a canard rotor/wing escort. The ethos behind the new centre is to ensure that mistakes made during the early development of the MV-22 tilt-rotor are not repeated during future programmes, said Lt Gen Michael Hough, the USMC's Deputy Commandant for Aviation. Identifying a shortfall in simulation...

ARLINGTON, Texas(Reuters) - Soon to be taking to the skies of north Texas will be a hybrid aircraft that is part plane, part helicopter and has the potential to change civil aviation. Fort Worth, Texas-based Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co. is just weeks away from conducting its first test flights of a civilian tilt-rotor aircraft, called the BA 609. A tilt-rotor has engines that pivot 90 degrees so the aircraft can take off vertically like a helicopter then fly horizontally like a plane. While the company is banking on obtaining civilian transport category flight certification from the Federal Aviation Administration, a military...

Osprey landings tested V-22 performs well in first sea trials since aircraft was grounded Dallas Morning News 01/15/03 author: Jim Fry Copyright 2001 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT 2001 The Dallas Morning News, L.P. ABOARD THE USS IWO JIMA – A V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor touched down on the deck of the USS Iwo Jima at 1:11 p.m. Tuesday, the first time in almost three years that the troubled aircraft has landed on a Navy ship's flight deck. "Looking pretty smooth," said Jim Shelton, a Navy civilian avionics engineer who watched the test 53 miles off the North Carolina...

Aerospace Daily: Bell/Agusta BA609 Civil Tiltrotor On Track Following V-22 Progress By Jefferson Morris/Aerospace Daily 10-Dec-2002 10:41 AM U.S. EST Encouraged by the performance of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey military tiltrotor aircraft since its return to flight, Bell/Agusta Aerospace Company is moving forward with the development and production of its BA609 civilian tiltrotor. Despite significant differences between the two aircraft, the future of the BA609 had been in doubt after the V-22 was grounded after two fatal accidents in 2000. Bell/Agusta elected to slow production of the civilian version, pending the results of the V-22's return to flight (DAILY, April...