Bell’s Big Tiltrotor Win May Be a Turning Point in Aviation

With Bell’s recent win over the Lockheed Martin/Boeing consortium in the U.S. Army’s future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program, the long-awaited replacement for the venerable Sikorsky Black Hawk will be the Bell V-280 Valor. The Valor is a tiltrotor, and like the V-22 Osprey, combines vertical takeoff and landing with turboprop-like air speeds in horizontal flight. That’s good for the Army, but it also may herald a new era in civil aviation. Will helicopters be consigned to history? Jim Anderton comments.

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