FVL: Don’t Pick The Tiltrotor, V-22 Test Pilot Tells Army

Which aircraft should the Army buy to replace the Reagan-era UH-60 Black Hawk? On March 30, the Army announced that Bell Textron’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor and the Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant X compound helicopter will advance to the next phase of the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program.

Based on my research and my first-hand experience as a tiltrotor test pilot in the Marine Corps, the compound helicopter is the clear choice when it comes to choosing the configuration that best supports the Army’s mission and minimizes costs.


While tiltrotors offer superior high-altitude cruise performance, that’s less relevant to future high-intensity warfare where Army aircraft will have to stay low to avoid advanced anti-aircraft defenses. Also ,the compound helicopter is more agile at low altitude, hovers better at high altitudes in hot weather, and can maintain tighter formations. More importantly, the training and military construction costs to switch from the H-60 to a compound helicopter will be much lower than the transition costs for a tiltrotor
Once rapid buildup of combat forces is complete, the Army’s mission turns to sustaining operations. This phase places an emphasis on hover performance and vertical maneuver in rugged terrain. With its larger, coaxial rotor, the Defiant X’s hover efficiency and performance exceeds the V-280’s, especially under high, hot conditions. The Defiant X will carry more and have increased power margins at altitude compared to the V-280.