Bell Eagle Eye
| Eagle eye | |
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| Type: | drone |
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| First flight: |
November 1992 |
The Bell Eagle Eye (German: Adlerauge) is an unmanned ( UAV ) tilt rotor aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capability ( VTOL ), also known as VUAV or VT-UAV.
development
The Eagle Eye program was funded by Bell for the first twelve years. The development of a concept demonstrator began in the early 1990s: the TR911X. It is 7/8 the size of the final version. The airframe is made of composite materials and was originally designed and built by Scaled Composites . In 1992 two demonstration aircraft were built, each powered by an Allison 250 -C20 shaft turbine . The engine is in the middle of the fuselage. The drive power is transmitted to the two swiveling rotor nacelles attached to the wing tips via shafts and gears ( tilting rotor concept). The maximum take-off mass in vertical take-off is 1020 kg (2250 lbs).
The first flight (helicopter mode) of the TR911X took place in November 1992 at the Bell Helicopter Textron Incorporation (BHTI) plant in Dallas, Texas. In the spring of 1993, the Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG) test site was able to successfully complete both the hover and the horizontal flight. In 1998 the US government showed renewed interest in the Eagle Eye. This resulted in a two-stage flight test program. Phase 1, which included land-based flight tests, was carried out until April 1998. Shortly thereafter, phase 2 began, during which sea-based flight tests were carried out. The first demonstrator was destroyed in an accident, the second demonstrator then successfully completed the rest of the test program.
These successes led to its inclusion in the Deepwater program in 2002. In the summer of the same year, the US Coast Guard ordered the VUAV. The variant designated as the TR916 is said to have a top speed of 200 knots (370 km / h) and a service life of 5.5 hours with a payload of 200 pounds (90 kg). The planes should be operational in 2006. It was only after the United States Marine Corps began planning to purchase the Eagle Eyes in a Coast Guard configuration for evaluation purposes that Bell decided to build a full-size prototype. The Eagle Eye, known as the TR918, is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Canada PW200 / 55 shaft power engine. The 3,000 pound TR918 is 95% identical to the TR916. The first hover took place on January 26, 2006. On April 5, 2006, the aircraft crashed while attempting to hover and was rebuilt.
In the summer of 2004, Bell established business relationships with Sagem in France and Rheinmetall Defense in Germany in order to sell variants of the Eagle Eye to European governments. Bell suggests making the airframe available. The European partners provide the payloads and other modifications. Bell then carries out the system integration.
Technical data (TR918)
- Length: 5.56 m (18 ft 3 in)
- Span:
- including rotors: 7.37 m (24 ft 2 in)
- without rotors: 4.32 m
- Rotor diameter: 3.05 m (10 ft 0 in)
- Rotor area: 14.6 m² (157 ft²)
- Height: 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
- Engine : 1 × Pratt & Whitney PW200 / 55 marine turboprop engine, 641 shp (478 kW)
- Top speed: 225 mph (360 km / h) 200 knots.
- Service ceiling: 20,000 ft (6,096 m)
- Flight time: 6 hours
- Crew: none
- Payload: 200 pounds (91 kg)
