Tiltrotor drones could be ready for production by 2023

Bell Helicopter unveiled plans in late September to produce and field a tilt-rotor drone called the V-247 Vigilant. It is expected to have the runway independence, lethal range and speed of a V-22 Osprey — Bell’s most popular tilt-rotor aircraft — but will be smaller, which is more advantageous for placing it onto sea-based platforms with limited space.

Through plug-and-play mission packages, the Vigilant will be able to carry a significant payload and execute electronic-warfare, intelligence, surveillance-and-reconnaissance, escort, command-and-control, communications and fire missions.

The drones are in the concept-development phase, and Bell is working to identify the military’s needs before production begins.

The Vigilant, which does not yet have a price tag, could be ready for production as early as 2023. Photo: Stripes.com

“The advantage that the Bell V-247 Vigilant provides is that it does not need a runway or other airfield resources,” said Vince Tobin, vice president of Advanced Tiltrotor Systems for Bell Helicopter. “It can, therefore, be co-located with the units on a ship or in the field that will make use of the asset. This reduces the issues associated with link-up at the proper place and time for the unit prosecuting military operations and the fixed-wing [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle] that may be taking off from a runway hundreds of miles away.”

There are many instances in which a vertical-takeoff-and-landing platform is more advantageous than a fixed-wing, runway-launched platform, Tobin said.

“In those cases, the Bell V-247 Vigilant provides the speed, range, payload and flexibility to meet mission requirements,” he said.

Bell Helicopter recently unveiled plans for a tiltrotor drone, the V-247 Vigilant. The drones will be smaller than the V-22 Osprey but will have virtually the same vertical take-off and land capabilities, cargo capacity and speed. Photo: Internet

With the recent success of the V-22 Osprey in Iraq and Afghanistan and in humanitarian operations across the Pacific, Bell’s Advanced Tiltrotor Systems program team, which supported development of the Army’s V-280 Valor, came up with the Vigilant a little more than a year ago, Bell officials said.

The single-engine aircraft looks more like a drone than an Osprey and likely will boast a 65-foot wingspan and 30-foot-diameter rotors. Its maximum gross weight is expected to be about 29,500 pounds. It is designed to support an MK-50 torpedo and Hellfire or Joint Air-to-Ground missiles.