WASHINGTON — Bell Helicopter is taking its legacy developing tiltrotor technology into the unmanned world with a new aircraft it is calling the V-247 “Vigilant.”
Bell assigned the number “247” to the aircraft because of its 24-hour persistent ISR capability when used in a two-aircraft team, Tobin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aircraft is also designed with a large amount of flexibility through an open-architecture, modular payload system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, Vigilant is DDG shipboard compatible and, when folded up, has the footprint of a Bell Helicopter UH-1 Yankee. It has a 37-foot-long fuselage. Two can fit on a C-17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The V-247 is designed to optimally fire MK-50 Torpedos, Hellfire missiles or the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aircraft will have aerial-refueling capability and a retractable tricycle landing gear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drawing from technology developed in the V-22 and V-280 programs, Bell is using the same wing concept as the V-280. While the V-22 has two separate wings, the wing is one long piece mated to the top of the fuselage in the V-280.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One big difference is the power source. While the V-280 and V-22\u2019s dual-engines are located within the tiltrotor pylons, Vigilant will have a single engine housed in the fuselage, according to Tobin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The tiltrotor\u2019s advantage over a fixed-wing aircraft is “it collocates with the maneuver force because it isn\u2019t reliant on a runway somewhere else, so it doesn\u2019t have to be based at some far-off point. \u2026 It can take off from right next to where you are,” Tobin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Bell sees the Marine Corps as the most near-term possibility for a runway-independent drone program, the Army has been very vocal this year that it desires for its future unmanned aircraft to be runway-independent as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tobin told Defense News following the unveiling that the Army has signaled “nothing specific” in terms of when it might want to start looking at such an aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, said Tobin, “We think when we build this, and the Army sees it and they see the capability they have, they will either want this or something like it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the current design is larger than a Gray Eagle, Vigilant is easily scalable and could be designed smaller, Tobin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And he added Vigilant could be easily incorporated into manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) arrangements with the Army\u2019s AH-64E attack helicopters, where pilots have the ability to control nearby drones from the cockpit using a tactical common data link, because its open architecture would allow for it to connect seamlessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tobin said the company anticipates the same could go for MUM-T operations with a future medium-sized vertical lift aircraft for which the V-280 is being developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
And an unmanned aircraft like Vigilant might even have a place as the Army\u2019s future vertical lift helicopter in the light-attack or reconnaissance category. Bell responded to an Army request for information on designs for such an aircraft with an unmanned aircraft offering, according to Tobin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order to take the aircraft from a design phase to a development phase, Bell is waiting for a green light when the Marine Corps writes a formal requirement. Once there\u2019s a “formal requirement, the application of funding and initiation of an engineering and manufacturing development phase of acquisition,” Bell will be ready to “assist as necessary,” Tobin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And while he didn\u2019t want to speak for the Marine Corps, Tobin added, based on questions from the service on how quickly they can build the V-247, “we interpret that as, potentially, for there to be a near-term need so we are making sure we are ready for that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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