STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC
XWORX borrows from Boeing and Lockheed Martin traditions to develop research
Bell Helicopter is creating a new organisation - called XWORX - to focus on advanced development. Planned projects include an initial portfolio of quad tiltrotor concepts, a full-scale prototype of the HV-911 Eagle Eye and a four-bladed rotor option for the V-22.
The XWORX concept borrows from the tradition of Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works and Boeing's Phantom Works - a place to consolidate research and development efforts across a broad range of products, says Mark Gibson, director of advanced concept development.
Bell's research projects are "spread under multiple organisations with different leadership not necessarily marching to the same drum," says Gibson. "This will bring that all together."
Bell is working on drawing up the full list of development programmes for the XWORX staff, but the initial assignments lean toward the company's military products. So far, Bell's Modular Affordable Product Line (MAPL) concept - three all-new commercial helicopters that share a common cockpit, tail boom, skid assembly and fuselage design - is not included on the list of XWORX responsibilities, but that could change.
"They have not decided on whether the MAPL will be folded into the XWORX," says Gibson.
An immediate goal for XWORX is to produce a full-scale demonstrator for the Eagle Eye by the end of the year, or just ahead of a planned international marketing push for the vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle. XWORX will also begin developing designs for a long-range, armed variant of the Eagle Eye for the US Marine Corps.
Meanwhile, V-22 programme officials have asked Bell's developers to evaluate the possibility of a four-bladed rotor design, says Gibson. V-22 officials are trying to boost the hover and forward flight performance of the aircraft's three-bladed rotor system, including an ongoing study of a reconfigurable blade that minimises the twist angle during certain flight modes.
XWORX could also be the home for a new round of windtunnel testing on an aeroelastic model of a two-wing, quad tiltrotor heavy lift aircraft.
The new centre takes its name from the four-bladed rotor configuration of Bell's signature H-1 upgrade programme and will based at Arlington, Texas.
Source: Flight International
