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СпутникиРНSpaceXРоскосмосNASAThe first six test aircraft of the U.S. Army’s Bell MV-75 Cheyenne II are now in various stages of production, as Bell continues its rapid progress in developing the next-generation tiltrotor to meet the Army’s ambitious timeline to field the type.
The post Bell notes ‘big year’ for MV-75 as build begins on first six test aircraft appeared first on Vertical Mag.
The first six test aircraft of the U.S. Army’s Bell MV-75 Cheyenne II are now in various stages of production, as Bell continues its rapid progress in developing the next-generation tiltrotor to meet the Army’s ambitious timeline to field the type.
The aircraft is on display this week at the Farnborough International Airshow in the U.K. in the form of a new full-scale mock up that debuted earlier this year at the Army Aviation Association of America’s annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
It was at that show that it received its designation during a special naming ceremony. The “MV” stands for multi-mission vertical lift platform, while “75” refers to the U.S. Army’s founding in 1775.
Speaking to journalists alongside the mock up at Farnborough, Jeff Schloesser, senior vice president, strategic pursuits, Bell, said there has been “an awful lot” of interest in the new tiltrotor from foreign governments and militaries, with the U.S. Army hoping to receive first deliveries of the aircraft in 2027.
The first two MV-75 wings have now been assembled in Bell’s facility in Amarillo, Texas, (site of the type’s final assembly line,) and the first nacelles have been test fitted to them.
Ryan Ehinger, senior vice president & program director of the MV-75, said the type’s origin in digital design has led to efficiencies in the build phase, with the first wing completed in 90 percent fewer labor hours than the first V-22 wing — its tiltrotor predecessor — took to build. The second wing was then completed in 40 percent less time than the first wing. The first composite rotor blades are also being made with 60 percent fewer labor hours than the V-22.
“It’s a testament to the lessons learned from the V-22, and also the application of that engineering,” said Ehinger.
Earlier this year, Bell officially opened its Wichita Assembly Center, which is tasked with manufacturing the MV-75’s fuselage. The first three sections of the first aircraft fuselage are now being built and will be mated in the coming months, said Ehinger.
The first gearbox is complete and will begin testing this summer, while testing on the first set of flight control computers has already begun in the weapon systems integration lab.
“We’re very excited about the progress that we’ve made to date,” said Ehinger. “Obviously, we’re in a critical phase of the engineering and manufacturing development program, maturing on the software and hardware side, as we start getting into component testing — and then eventually ground testing and first flight of the aircraft.”
Ehinger said the air assault/utility platform is the foundation of the aircraft’s design, but that Bell is also developing, in parallel, special operations command (SOCOM) and medevac variants.
The U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division will be the first to operate the type, and it has begun incorporating the MV-22 into its training exercises for air assault operations to help inform how it could use the next-generation tiltrotor.
“They’ve been taking MV-22s and working inside their training exercises, along with Black Hawks, Apaches and Chinooks, and trying to understand the time on target question,” said Schloesser, who is a former commander of the 101st Airborne Division.
“This aircraft can fly twice as fast as a Black Hawk and twice as fast as a Chinook, and obviously more than twice as fast as an Apache. And so, if you’re trying to basically aggregate on a target simultaneously from different directions, that’s the lessons that they’re really taking at this point in time.”
Bell is also a finalist for the U.S. Army’s Flight School Next program, which seeks to provide a new primary single-engine rotary-wing training aircraft that is contractor-owned and -operated. Bell is offering its 505 light single for the program, and has partnered with DigiFlight, Delaware Resource Group (DRG), V2X, Alpha 1 Aerospace, Semper Fly and TRU Simulation.
Schloesser said he expects to hear an announcement about who has been chosen within the next couple of months.
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