Bell aims to manufacture and fly the first full-scale HV-911 Eagle Eye within a year, building on a 7/8-scale version of the tiltrotor unmanned air vehicle.
The internally funded effort is expected to give Bell a 4.63m (15.2ft) wingspan demonstrator in late 2004, two years before flight tests are scheduled for the first aircraft produced under the US Coast Guard Deepwater contract. The USCG plans to order 69 HV-911s over a 13-year period.
Bell plans a marketing push in tandem with full-scale Eagle Eye production. The UAV is viewed as a candidate for US and foreign naval programmes, as well as emerging homeland security needs. The full-scale Eagle Eye is 5.45m long and rotor diameter is 3.04m, says Robert Dompka, Bell's director of UAV programmes. Bell is expected to enter a programme design review this month.
Source: Flight International
