Army Acquisition Chief, Bruce Jette, shares updates on how the Army’s top six modernization priorities are progressing.

To deliver the capabilities FVL requires affordably — in development, production and sustainment — industry will have to leverage new design and production techniques that deliver critical components with high quality and moderate cost.

As the Army works to modernize, it's using a new approach to get the most innovative technology possible for the war fighter. The key to success: partnering with industry from the beginning. And the V-280 is proof.

As the U.S. Army prepares to modernize its aircraft fleet to harness the power of new vertical flight technology with greater range and versatility, the requested budget is critical to making the modernization effort successful.

Continue reading

Developing these aircraft, so far, has been swift and successful, thanks to the Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) program, which is essentially an industry competition that allows companies, like Bell, to develop the next-generation technology alongside the Army.

Continue reading

"We don't have the time or luxury to wait for people," Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said. "They've got to keep pace with us if they want to do business with us."

The future battlespace will be shaped by the advanced vertical lift technology being designed and tested today. As the Bell V-280 Valor presses on, expanding its envelope, and the Bell 360 Invictus continues to pique national interest, Bell teams are already laying the groundwork for this future.

Continue reading

Future Vertical Lift, the Army's effort to develop a new generation of vertical lift systems, is one of its top modernization priorities. As part of this effort, the Army is pioneering the use of a combination of acquisition approaches that depart from the traditional defense acquisition system.

Continue reading

Using a computer-based model - the "digital thread" - for engineering development has numerous benefits, not least of which is the rapidity of development through the ability to make and test parts digitally rather than in hardware.

Download report (PDF)

Bell was selected earlier this year as one of two companies to build prototypes for the competitive flight test phase for FARA, the Army’s No. 1 priority under the service's future vertical lift effort.

Continue reading

To meet the Army's ambitious requirements for a new frontline scout, the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft competition, "you have to design in that high performance and, at the same time, ensure that you're sustainable and affordable in the long term," Flail told me. "The Army's going to have this aircraft in the fleet for decades, and it's got to be able to be maintained in the dirt."

Continue reading

Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor demonstrator flew autonomously for the first time Dec. 18 at Bell's facility in Arlington, Texas.

Continue reading

America’s security and vital national interests are challenged like never before by peer competitors, and non-state actors, seeking to erode our influence and degrade our ability to help enable peace and stability.

Continue reading

In January, the Bell V-280 Valor reached its namesake cruising speed of 280 knots true airspeed. See what it's capable of.

Continue reading

As the U.S. Army works to modernize, one thing is clear, all priority programs must have next-generation technology, without next-generation cost. That includes Future Vertical Lift and the Future Long-Range Attack Aircraft. The good news, Bell has the Army's affordable, high-tech option: the Bell V-280.

Continue reading