Blackhawk’s possible successor, V-280 Valor, unveiled: ‘You need this kind of speed and range’

The possible successor to the U.S. military’s iconic Blackhawk helicopter was unveiled Tuesday at the Farnborough International Airshow.

Bell Helicopter gave attendees an up-close look at the V-280 Valor, which is part of the Army’s Joint Multi-Role (JMR) program for assessing next-generation aircraft capabilities. Bell teamed up with Lockheed Martin to produce the aircraft’s advanced tiltrotor systems.

“Any country with a UH-60 or an H-1 down the road would want this kind of speed and range capability,” Steve Mathias, Bell’s director global business development, told Aviation Week. “Because of the expeditionary [nature of combat], everyone needs the time to react. You need this kind of speed and range. So there will be, I believe, a great deal of interest.”

The V-280 Valor boasts a cruising speed of 280 KTAS — twice that of current platforms — a combat range of 500-800 nautical miles, and can carry up to 14 troops.

Mr. Mathias said the price of the helicopter will be about $20 million due to advances in tiltrotor technology.

“If you were a tailor and I came to you and said ’build me a suit, here’s a big ball of thread, and build me a suit out of that,’ or if I came to you and said ’here’s some cloth and said build me a suit out of that,’ it’s going to be much quicker and cheaper to build out of cloth,” Mr. Mathias said.

Sikorsky Aircraft and Boeing are producing a second option for the Pentagon to consider, the SB-1 Defiant. The U.S. military plans to start purchasing the superior product by the 2030s.