Future Vertical Lift

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Future Vertical Lift ( ATCO ) is a program to develop a family of military helicopters for the United States Armed Forces . Four different aircraft sizes are to be developed, based on a common range of hardware, sensors, avionics and engines.

After a decade of struggle from Operation Iraqi Freedom to Operation Enduring Freedom, the US Department of Defense has discovered that the US Army's helicopter fleet is obsolete. Due to combat operations, the helicopters flew five times more often than in peacetime. During that time, the manufacturers have overhauled and upgraded existing families of aircraft, however, with the Bell / Boeing V-22 Osprey as an exception, they have not developed any new helicopters.

Future Vertical Lift was launched in 2009 by the US Secretary of Defense as an initiative rather than a solution. In the Department of Defense (DoD), it is to focus on all helicopter, possibly also VTOL, capabilities and their technological development and thereby maintain long-term technical know-how. In October 2011, the Deputy Minister of Defense published the ATCO Strategic Plan to outline a common approach for a next-generation helicopter for all armed forces. This plan formed the basis for the development of helicopters for the next 25 to 40 years to replace the current fleet.

The aim is to use new technologies, materials and constructions. They should be faster, longer range, better payload, more reliable, easier to maintain and operate, and lower operating costs. In the JMR (Joint Multi-Role) phase, technology demonstrators are supposed to lay the foundations. With the JMR Phase I, the aircraft will be developed. JMR Phase II will develop mission systems and software, although integration into the demonstrators is not planned. The Army started an ATCO engine program in 2016.

Configurations

In 2009, three size categories were planned, then four and five (which may be based on the same basic design) should replace up to 25 current rotary and fixed wing types:

As of April 2013, three different configurations of JMR aircraft were investigated, according to the US House Armed Services Committee .

  • A conventional helicopter
  • A helicopter with a rotor, with a large wing to generate lift and extra thrust propellers.
  • A helicopter with swiveling rotors.

Design requirements

Joint Multi-Role Helicopter Program (as of 2011)

JMR-Light JMR medium JMR Heavy JMR-Ultra
speed 170-300 + kn
Combat radius 424 km (263 mi) 562 km
Internal payload 907-2041 kg 2721-9072 kg 9072-13608 kg 18,144-32,658 kg
External payload 4536-9072 kg 7257-13608 kg
Passengers 2721-9072 kg 9072-13608 kg

In March 2013, the Army asked the industry to submit proposals for a measure called Alternative Engine Conceptual Design and Analysis .

With alternative engine and propulsion system configurations, the novel engine is intended to enable improved mission capabilities. These are e.g. B. an increased mission time, a larger mission radius and a quieter operation. Due to the different configurations of the aircraft, engines with a power output of 40 HP (30 kW) to 10,000 HP (7,500 kW) are to be examined. One to four companies can receive an order whose work should be completed in 18 months. So September 2014.

Lockheed Martin is developing a "common mission system" that can be integrated into the ATCO light, medium, heavy and ultra-heavy aircraft. The aim of this system is to save money and development time. More precisely, it saves the need to train maintenance personnel, trainers and personnel in several systems and to keep the technology up to date. One component is a helmet that is derived from that used on the F-35 Lightning II and uses distributed aperture technology to allow pilots to see "through" the aircraft.

On February 18, 2016, the Improved Turbine Engine / Future Vertical Lift Project Management Office (ITE / ATCO PMO) started with two Requests for Information (RFI) to submit proposals to the industry. The first is the 'ATCO Capability Sets # 1' which corresponds to the ATCO light category. This resulted in the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) (armed reconnaissance helicopter) program in 2018 . The second RFI is for the 'ATCO Capability Sets # 3' which corresponds to the ATCO medium category. In 2019, the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program was started for the transport part .

Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR TD) (as of 2014)

The new aircraft should have the following characteristics:

  • Speed> 230 kn (430 km / h)
  • Promote 12 fully equipped soldiers
  • Operate in "high and hot" conditions at altitudes of 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and temperatures of 35 ° C (95 ° F)
  • Combat radius of 424 km (263 mi) with a range without refueling of 848 km (527 mi)
  • Mission sets include cargo transportation, armed scouting, assault, humanitarian aid, medical evacuation, submarine hunting, underwater warfare, land / sea search and rescue, special warfare support, relocation, and mine control.
  • The ATCO aircraft family must have either piloted or autonomous flight capabilities.

The demonstration aircraft will have a life of 200 hours of flight and the Army's budget is $ 240 million.

JMR TD competitors

  • Bell
  • Sikorsky / Boeing
  • AVX
  • Karem
  • EADS
  • Piasecki

The aircraft in detail:

Bell

Main article: Bell V-280 Valor

Bell Helicopter proposed a third generation tiltrotor design for the ATCO program. In April 2013, Bell unveiled its tiltrotor design called the Bell V-280 Valor. The V-280 has a V-tail, only the rotor system is tilted and not, like the V-22 Osprey , also the engines. The demonstrator is designed for four crew members and 14 soldiers. It is to be built on a scale of 92 percent of the final design. The first flight took place in December 2017.

Sikorsky / Boeing

Main article: SB> 1 Defiant

The SB> 1 Defiant (or "SB-1") is a joint production by Sikorsky Aircraft and Boeing for the program. It is a flight wrench with a rigid coaxial rotor and two Honeywell T55 motors. In the stern, a covered propeller ensures the required speed. The first flight took place in March 2019.

Former competitors

AVX

AVX Aircraft proposed an aircraft with a coaxial rotor and a tail unit made up of two jacketed pusher propellers . The ducts provide better steering and additional forward power. The size of the JMR-TD should be 75% of the target design. It can fly at 230 knots (430 km / h), with 40% lift coming from the small front wings and 60% from the 17 m long rotors. Half the drag of the design comes from the fuselage and the other half from the rotor system. The demonstrator would weigh 27,000 lb (12,000) kg, carry four crew members and 12 soldiers. It is said to be able to lift external up to 13,000 lb (5,900 kg). It has a 6 × 6 ft (1.8 m × 1.8 m) cab, and an internal payload of 8,000 lb (3,600 kg). The utility and combat versions are 90% the same and also fly at the same speed. The test aircraft will be equipped with the latest GE T706 engines. The aim is to equip the aircraft with the Advanced Affordable Turbine Engine with its higher 4,800 PS (3,600 kW) output. AVX has partnered with Rockwell Collins , General Electric and BAE Systems . It has entry doors on either side of the hull with a large rear ramp for easy cargo handling. Both versions have a retractable landing gear. The attack variant carries all weapons internally in order to obtain aerodynamic advantages. The concept is said to be able to reach 80% of the speed of the V-22 Osprey for half the price. It will be able to hover at 1,800 m (6,000 feet) in temperatures of 35 ° C and travel a distance of 2,100 nmi (2,400 mi; 3,900 km) without refueling. The company plans to build a 70% scale demonstrator to a final design.

AVX Aircraft saw its position as a smaller company (with 25 employees, some of whom worked on the V-22) as your asset. If AVX were to be selected, it would likely have had a team arrangement with another company to do the assembly, integration, and production support. Like Sikorsky, AVX considers coaxial rotors to be unsuitable for lifting heavy loads and instead suggests their tilt rotor aircraft for Capability Set 4 (Chinook replacement).

Karem

Karem Aircraft suggested developing an Optimum-Speed ​​TiltRotor (OSTR) called the TR36TD demonstrator. It would have had two 11 m (36 foot) rotors powered by existing turbo shaft motors. Similar technology was used on the A160 Hummingbird (hummingbird) . The production version of the TR36D would have had a flight speed of 360 kn (670 km / h). According to Karem, the variable speed OSTR configuration offers advantages in terms of weight, powertrain, and aerodynamic efficiency. They also say it offers reduced complexity, inherent safety benefits, simplified maintenance, and a low total cost of ownership.

EADS

EADS planned to submit a proposal for the JMR Phase I demonstration. It was expected that the design would be based on the Eurocopter X³ . However, EADS withdrew the proposal at the end of May 2013 because Eurocopter would probably have had to transfer the intellectual property of the X³ to the USA. They also wanted to focus on the Armed Aerial Scout program, but it was later discontinued. The company also said the cost of developing a high-speed rotary wing aircraft was far higher than the $ 75 million that would have been granted.

Piasecki

Piasecki Aircraft Corporation offered its PA61-4 Advanced Winged Compound (AWC). The fuselage should be made of carbon fiber reinforced plastic. The aircraft is supposed to fly 233 kn (432 km / h). As with the Piasecki X-49 , a sheathed thrust propeller (vectored-thrust ducted propeller, VTDP) will be used for additional thrust and torque compensation. In addition, the aircraft has a large wingspan wing for additional lift and torque protection. The wing can be swiveled while hovering in order to achieve better control behavior and to increase the lift. By removing the wing while maintaining the VTDP, an aircraft would still fly 180 kn (210 mph; 330 km / h). Replacing the VTDP with a traditional tail rotor has created a 160 km (180 mph; 300 km / h) version that is slower but lighter and cheaper. It is well suited to transporting external loads.

Joint multi-role development

On June 5, 2013, Bell announced that its V-280 Valor had been selected by the Army for the Joint Multi-Role (JMR) Technology Demonstrator (TD) phase. The Boeing-Sikorsky team that unveiled the high-speed composite helicopter design based on the X2 prototype reported that it was also invited to negotiate a technology investment agreement for the JMR-TD Phase I program. AVX Aircraft also confirmed that it was selected as a Category I competitor for JMR Phase I. EADS withdrew from the program prematurely; Piasecki Aircraft was not selected. On August 6, 2013, Lockheed Martin said it would offer a new mission equipment package to meet the requirements for the JMR / ATCO program. Boeing and other companies are expected to offer competing avionics kits. On September 9, 2013, Bell announced that they would be working with Lockheed on the V-280.

On October 2, 2013, the US Army issued AVX Aircraft, Bell Helicopters, Karem Aircraft, and Sikorsky Aircraft Technology Investment Agreements as part of the Phase I program of the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator. The JMR-TD is not intended to be a prototype for the next vehicle family or determine the design. It should develop and demonstrate a company-representative mix of skills, technologies and interfaces. The TIAs give the four teams nine months to complete the preliminary design of their rotary wing aircraft. The Army will then approve the construction of two competing demonstrators. Each of the four teams received $ 6.5 million from the Army for this first phase of the program.

The Army considered five criteria to select the JMR-TD proposals:

  • To what extent does the design improve the scientific and technological goals?
  • Whether the design meets the performance specifications
  • How well does the demonstrator meet the specifications
  • How well is the schedule being adhered to
  • Does the company have the skills and competencies to conduct a flight demonstration?

At the beginning of July 2014, the army selected the Boeing-Sikorsky team to develop the "Digital Backbone" standard of the Joint Common Architecture (JCA). The mission system is to be integrated into the design of the ATCO system.

Selection phase

On August 11, 2014, the Army notified the Sikorsky-Boeing and Bell-Lockheed teams that they had chosen the SB-1 Defiant and V-280 Valor to continue the JMR demonstration program. This was officially announced on October 3, 2014. The aircraft designs show that the Army is pursuing both coaxial and tilting protor designs, preferring larger and established contractors to smaller ones.

After the flight tests and technology development, the JMR ends.

See also

Portal: Aviation  - Overview of Wikipedia content on aviation

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Graham Warwick: Industry: ATCO Needs To Move Faster To Survive . Aviation Week & Space Technology . Retrieved on May 29, 2016: “ATCO is complicated. It is not a program but a plan to replace all of the US military's rotorcraft "
  2. ^ John Reed: Pentagon plans 4 new helos . In: Army Times . October 5, 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
  3. ↑ a b c US Army reveals details of Joint Multi-Role fleet vision flightglobal.com , August 16, 2011.
  4. ↑ Drwiega, Andrew. " Proceed with Caution: JMR Tech Demo Phase 1 " Aviation Today , November 1, 2013. Accessed: October 18, 2014.
  5. ↑ Majumdar, Dave. " Mixed reaction over US plans for new prototype attack helicopter " Flightglobal , January 21, 2013. Accessed: June 21, 2014. Archived on June 21, 2014.
  6. ↑ a b AVX Presses Case For Coaxial-Rotor JMR Demonstrator . May 6, 2013.
  7. ↑ a b Future Vertical Lift: An Overview . 1st of May 2013..
  8. ↑ a b Stephen Trimble: Looming FVL demonstrator awards plot uncertain path for US rotorcraft industry . In: FlightGlobal , July 22, 2014. Archived from the original on July 24, 2014. Retrieved on July 24, 2014. 
  9. ^ Adaptive Vertical Lift Engine Conceptual Design and Analysis Program - Federal Business Opportunities: Opportunities . Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  10. ^ Army Looks To Build Two Forms of Medium Future Vertical Lift . January 29, 2015.
  11. ^ Turnbull, Grant. " ATCO milestone on horizon " 15 September 2015
  12. ^ Sikorsky and Boeing Team Submit New Army Helicopter Design . USNI. 17th June 2014.
  13. ↑ Drwiega, Andrew. " Boeing Plans for Additional Apache and Chinook Versions Before Future Vertical Lift Arrives " Aviation Today , July 1, 2014. Accessed: July 4, 2014. Archived on July 3, 2014.
  14. ^ Mary J. Miller: US Army's Science and Technology (S&T) Program for Fiscal Year 2014 . April 16, 2013. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  15. ↑ https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=a5565b60f76fb235432f6779d0a9c97d
  16. ↑ https://www.fbo.gov/utils/view?id=30d9477b774fd2e196779f3a65fb934b
  17. ↑ US Army seeks advanced engine for future rotorcraft - Flightglobal.com, March 20, 2013
  18. ↑ Lockheed pitches F-35 technology for US Army's future vertical lifter - Flightglobal.com, May 7, 2014
  19. ↑ RFI ATCO Capability Set # 1 sam.gov
  20. ↑ RFI ATCO Capability Set # 3 sam.gov
  21. ↑ Army propels Next Generation Helicopter Program Forward - Defensetech.org, 8 October 2014
  22. ↑ Army matures autonomous flight technologies armytechnology.armylive.dodlive.mil , October 31, 2014. Archived on November 19, 2014.
  23. ↑ a b " Sikorsky Moves X2 Technology Up A Size For JMR " Aviation Week & Space Technology , November 4, 2013. Accessed: June 22, 2014. Archived June 22, 2014.
  24. ^ "PICTURES: Bell unveils V-280 Valor" . Flight International , April 10, 2013.
  25. ↑ Bell Helicopter Introduces the Bell V-280 Valor Tiltrotor at AAAA bellhelicopter.com press release, April 10, 2013. Archived on May 30, 2013.
  26. ↑ V-280 fact sheet bellv280.com . Archived on August 10, 2015.
  27. ↑ a b "Future Vertical Lift Takes Step Forward"  ( page no longer available ). Nationaldefensemagazine.com, April 2013 Template: dead link /! ... nourl
  28. ↑ a b Joint Multi-Role (JMR): The Technology Demonstrator Phase Contenders . Defense media network. October 8, 2013 ..
  29. ↑ AVX Aircraft Wins Place On US Army's JMR Demo - Aviationweek.com, June 7, 2013
  30. ↑ Drwiega, Andrew. " Gorillas Versus The Underdog " Aviation Today , July 1, 2014. Accessed: July 4, 2014. Archived July 3, 2014.
  31. ↑ AVX expects work to continue on its future vertical lift design - Flightglobal.com, May 6, 2014
  32. ↑ AVX would replace heavy-lift Chinook with tiltrotor . In: Flightglobal . Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  33. ↑ a b Karem Unveils Variable-Speed ​​Tiltrotor For US Army JMR Demo - Aviationweek.com, October 2, 2013
  34. ^ Warwick, Graham. " Eurocopter's X3 - Would You Go to War in One? " Aviation Week & Space Technology , July 27, 2012. Accessed: May 10, 2014. Archived on May 10, 2014
  35. ↑ " Intellectual Property Concerns Swayed EADS JMR Pullout " Aviation Week & Space Technology , 24 June, 2013.
  36. ^ Warwick, Graham. " EADS Withdraws JMR Bid To Focus On AAS " Aviation Week & Space Technology , June 4, 2013. Accessed: June 17, 2014. Archived June 17, 2014
  37. ↑ " EADS Quits Helo Competition To Pursue Uncertain AAS " Aviation Week & Space Technology , June 10, 2013. Accessed: June 17, 2014. Archived on June 17, 2014
  38. ↑ Majumdar, Dave. " Cost drove EADS from US Army rotorcraft demonstration " June 13, 2013. Archived May 12, 2014
  39. ↑ The Other JMR / ATCO Contenders Aviationweek.com , April 12, 2013. Archived on May 2, 2013.
  40. ↑ Bell V-280 Valor Selected for Army's JMR-TD Program bellhelicopter.com press release, June 5, 2013. Archived July 18, 2013.
  41. ↑ US Army selects Bell, Sikorsky / Boeing team for JMR demonstration - Flightglobal.com, June 5, 2013
  42. ^ Carey, Bill: Boeing, Sikorsky Team for Army's Joint Multi-Role Demonstration . AIN Online. January 25, 2013. Retrieved June 11, 2013.
  43. ^ AVX joins Bell, Sikorsky / Boeing for Army's JMR-TD development - Flightglobal.com, June 6, 2013
  44. ↑ McGarry, Brendan. " Lockheed F-35 Helmet pitches for Future Helos " DefenseTech , 7 May 2014. Accessed 22 June 2014. Archived on May 8, 2014.
  45. ↑ Lockheed to offer JMR / FVL avionics package - Flightglobal.com, 6 August 2013
  46. ^ " Bell Helicopter and Lockheed Martin team on V-280 Valor " AirFramer , September 9, 2013. Accessed: September 9, 2013.
  47. ^ Army selects four companies for advanced rotorcraft concepts - Flightglobal.com, October 3, 2013
  48. ^ McLeary, Paul: Four Companies Get US Army's Nod to Begin Critical Helicopter Designs . DefenseNews. October 2, 2013. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  49. ↑ Doubts Swirl around Army's Next Generation Helicopter Fleet - Defensetech.org, October 25, 2013
  50. ↑ Companies Await Decision on Joint Multi-Role Helicopter Program - Nationaldefensemagazine.org, July 1, 2014
  51. ↑ US Army's JMR Helo Selection Slips - Defensenews.com, August 1, 2014
  52. ^ Army Picks Firms to Build Future Helicopter dodbuzz.com on August 12, 2014
  53. ↑ US Army Selects Bell and Sikorsky / Boeing to Build Prototypes for Next Generation Helicopter Program news.usni.org on October 3, 2014