08th April 2017, Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen is home of the Zeppelin, on the side of the Constance lake. Every year, the AERO attracts its lot of light aircraft manufacturers and aviation passionates.
While many gliders, small airplanes, drones, and ultra lights were on display, we focused on the helicopters.
Mi2 outside
Mi2
Helicopters have always be designed and built for a mission. Bell Helicopters made it their motto (“One Bell. On a Mission”). The reason is obvious: their cost to buy and maintain have always limited purchases for recreational use. However, new designs such as the Ehang 184 or the Volocopter start changing the market into a more affordable pricing.
The most important change, though, might be one of the least noticed these days: Airbus Helicopters is being rebranded and will be called Airbus, just Airbus. Airbus Helicopters, formerly Eurocopter, is famous and acknowledged as the first civilian helicopter manufacturer in the world, designing and manufacturing reliable aircraft. Why, then, take the risk of losing the benefit of the history?
With the gigantic new market of autonomous drones, the technologies are becoming mature for new aircraft.
Airbus is taking the path of new airborne vehicles with rotary wings, and helicopters as we know them will only be a small part of it. It is all a matter of definition: while a helicopter has one main rotor and a tail rotor, or several main rotors, the use of push propellers or tilt rotors draws the designs closer to the limits of the definition. Furthermore, the use of fixed pitch propellers, in order to produce lift instead of propulsive thrust, confuses the difference between airplanes and helicopters.
Super Frelon rotor head, variable pitch
DJI Phantom 2, fixed pitch rotors. Is it an airplane without wings and flying upward?
The diversity of missions that can be fulfilled by aircraft is overwhelming. Many companies around the entire world come with new ideas and answer problems that are not even existing yet: E-Volo, Zee.Aero, Joby Aviation, Ehang, Airbus Vahana, City Airbus…
All these new design will make the word “helicopter” obsolete. While the current “Sikorsky” configuration (main rotor and a tail rotor) will still be the best design for many missions, alternative solutions will emerge. Separable fuselage to load the cargo, modular engine pods, optionally piloted vehicles, variable number of engines, all these designs will only be limited by the imagination of engineers, for a safer, cleaner, and efficient future.
Urban mobility seen by Airbus (C) Airbus
Airbus Helicopters, Bell Helicopters, Turkish Aerospace, Russian Helicopters… The 2015 edition of the Paris Air Show was far from being dedicated to the sole helicopters, but several manufacturers were there on the display.
Don’t get the wrong idea, Paris Air Show is mostly for planes
The French Army is proud of the NH90 TTH, used in operation in Africa and middle east.
NH90 TTH, French Army (ALAT)
American contenders proposed by Bell Helicopter for the Armed Scout competition
Bell 407AH
OH-58D Block II or OH-58F
Today was a cold spring day at Grand Central airport, in Gauteng province, South Africa. Strong crosswinds let only a few helicopters take-off.
Bell 407 and R44 at FAGC airport, Gauteng province, South Africa
Bell 407 at FAGC airport, Gauteng province, South Africa
EC130 mercy helicopter at FAGC airport, Gauteng province, South Africa
EC130 mercy helicopter at FAGC airport, Gauteng province, South Africa
R44 at FAGC airport, Gauteng province, South Africa
R44 at FAGC airport, Gauteng province, South Africa
Bell 407 and R44 at FAGC airport, Gauteng province, South Africa
Bell Helicopter announced today a fully new aircraft, although drawings were already released months ago (see the article of Aviation Week).
It should perform well in hot and high altitude conditions, 95°F (35°C) and 6000 ft (1830 m).
Considering the previous experience developed together with Agusta Westland on the AW609 (first called BA609, then AB609) and Boeing on the V-22, Bell Helicopter is fully able to produce a performing and reliable tilt rotor aircraft.
The Bell brochure compares directly to the UH-60 Black Hawk, emphasing a range capability up to 2100 nm (almost 3900 km) during self deployment. Of course, the self deployment is in a ferry configuration, flying with auxiliary fuel tanks and almost no pax.
The video wants to display an aircraft that makes kids dream, brings the GIs back home safe and provides the “state of the art” technologies: video transmission from drones and… mission displays. In a time of financial crisis, advertisers would rather show reliable, useful and proven technologies than a futuristic and expensive toy.
The aircraft could be proposed in 2 versions: tactical transport and combat. Beside possible door mounted guns for the transport variant, the armed version would carry weapons:
See the official dedicated website here: http://bellv280.com
Who are the competitors?
This aircraft arrives in a context of studies by the US forces, wishing for an Armed Scout and a JMR helicopter. The Armed Scout should be a smaller helicopter, but the Valor could still compete with the Sikorsky S-97 Raider and the Agusta Westland AW139M.
On the other hand, the Bell’s proposal can be compared with the Joint Multi Role concept from Boeing and Sikorsky, as a fast helicopter.
The main question remains open though: which weight do you want for an Armed Scout and a Joint Multi Role helicopter?