Ramon Lopez/WASHINGTON DC
Bell Helicopter Textron is proposing to adapt the Model Bell UV-609 civil tiltrotor to fly combat missions for the US Army, and for use by the US Marine Corps as a trainer intended for V-22 pilots.
The company believes that the proposed UV-609 can also perform other Army missions, including the command and control, logistics support and light utility/ troop transport roles.
Bell recently unveiled a full-scale mock-up of a UV-609 medical-evacuation tiltrotor aircraft with a configuration for two litters and additional seats.
The company may face an uphill battle, however, in selling the aircraft to the US Army, which has no formal requirement for a militarised tiltrotor aircraft based on the civil 609.
In 1988, the US Army pulled out of what was then known as the Joint Service Rotary Wing Aircraft (JVX) project, after losing interest in using a militarised tiltrotor for electronic warfare missions. It was thought that the US Army would buy almost 300 JVX (which became the V-22), destined to be used as Special Electronic Mission Aircraft, beginning in 2005.
The V-22 Osprey tiltrotor joint venture, which involves Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing Helicopters, still expects to build more than 300 MV-22Bs for the USMC, 48 HV-22Bs for the US Navy and 50 CV-22Bs, to be used by the US Air Force for special operations missions.
Lockheed Martin and Bell have teamed up to market the HV-609 variant of the tiltrotor for the US Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System re-equipment programme. They believe that the HV-609 could be a replacement for the USCG's fixed-wing Dassault HU-25, as well as the Eurocopter HH-65 and Sikorsky HH-60J helicopters.
Teams led by Lockheed Martin, Avondale Industries and Science Applications International were awarded potential $7 million contracts in August to conduct Deepwater studies over 16 months.
Source: Flight International
