This year the F-35B expanded its role as the training platform for the next generation of V/STOL fighter pilots. Aircrew training is ongoing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, and Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina. As of August, more than 65 percent of the F-35B flight test program was completed. The U.S. Marine Corps has been introducing the F- 35B into its training pipeline and will eventually field 340 of the aircraft. These scheduled deliveries do not reflect planned orders from the United Kingdom (138) and Italy (69). In July, the United Kingdom launched the newdesign aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will operate Royal Navy F-35Bs. The
Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey team continues to pursue new capabilities for the tilt-rotor
fleet, including air refueling demonstrations. Bell is also marketing the aircraft to foreign governments. As of April, the Bell Boeing team delivered more than 200 V-22s in both production versions. During the summer, V- 22s conducted highly publicized humanitarian
and search-and-rescue operations in the Far East and Africa. The rotorcraft company AgustaWestland
continues certification and production efforts for AW609 civil tilt-rotor. In March and April
more than 70 autorotations were conducted on one of the AW609 prototypes. Two of the
aircraft are supporting the flight test program. The U.S. Marine Corps vertical-lift fleet reached a major milestone with the May rollout out of the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopter.
This new, powerful aircraft will replace the CH-53s and CH-53Es, both of which are nearing the end of their service life. A production-representative ground vehicle is being tested at Sikorsky’s
West Palm Beach, Florida, facilities, and a first flight is scheduled for late 2014. In late July, the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineer-ing Center down-selected two contestants for the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator program. Two teams, Sikorsky Boeing
and Bell Helicopter, were selected to build flying technology demonstrators by 2017. Sikorsky Boeing is offering the SB-1 Defiant, a larger version of the X2, an experimental compound helicopter with coaxial rotors; and Bell is working on a clean-sheet tilt-rotor design, the V-280 Valor. Both designs will be capable of speeds greater than current Army rotorcraft. The long-term goal of the JMR program is to mature the technologies planned to be applied to a family of rotorcraft under the
Future Vertical Lift program. It is expected that the other two contenders, AVX and Karem
Aircraft, will continue to receive funding for technology risk reduction. In March, DARPA completed its selection of four contenders for its VTOL X-Plane. Aurora Flight Sciences,
Boeing, Sikorsky and Karem Aircraft were awarded Phase 1 preliminary design contracts for the
development of a VTOL aircraft capable of speeds up to 400 knots and gross weights up to 12,000 pounds. Boeing has already flown a 17 percent-scale unmanned demonstrator. Phase 2 of the program will be awarded to one of the aforementioned competitors. NASA’s unmanned GL-10 Greased Lightning made a tethered flight test in August with free-flight tests planned for later in the
year. The aircraft combines a vertical takeoff and landing capability with the cruise efficiency
of a long-endurance airplane. The aircraft’s tilt-wing configuration is based on lessons learned from the previous concepts tested during the project and from VTOL research
aircraft from the 1960s and 1970s
Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey team continues to pursue new capabilities for the tilt-rotor
fleet, including air refueling demonstrations. Bell is also marketing the aircraft to foreign governments. As of April, the Bell Boeing team delivered more than 200 V-22s in both production versions. During the summer, V- 22s conducted highly publicized humanitarian
and search-and-rescue operations in the Far East and Africa. The rotorcraft company AgustaWestland
continues certification and production efforts for AW609 civil tilt-rotor. In March and April
more than 70 autorotations were conducted on one of the AW609 prototypes. Two of the
aircraft are supporting the flight test program. The U.S. Marine Corps vertical-lift fleet reached a major milestone with the May rollout out of the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion heavy-lift helicopter.
This new, powerful aircraft will replace the CH-53s and CH-53Es, both of which are nearing the end of their service life. A production-representative ground vehicle is being tested at Sikorsky’s
West Palm Beach, Florida, facilities, and a first flight is scheduled for late 2014. In late July, the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineer-ing Center down-selected two contestants for the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator program. Two teams, Sikorsky Boeing
and Bell Helicopter, were selected to build flying technology demonstrators by 2017. Sikorsky Boeing is offering the SB-1 Defiant, a larger version of the X2, an experimental compound helicopter with coaxial rotors; and Bell is working on a clean-sheet tilt-rotor design, the V-280 Valor. Both designs will be capable of speeds greater than current Army rotorcraft. The long-term goal of the JMR program is to mature the technologies planned to be applied to a family of rotorcraft under the
Future Vertical Lift program. It is expected that the other two contenders, AVX and Karem
Aircraft, will continue to receive funding for technology risk reduction. In March, DARPA completed its selection of four contenders for its VTOL X-Plane. Aurora Flight Sciences,
Boeing, Sikorsky and Karem Aircraft were awarded Phase 1 preliminary design contracts for the
development of a VTOL aircraft capable of speeds up to 400 knots and gross weights up to 12,000 pounds. Boeing has already flown a 17 percent-scale unmanned demonstrator. Phase 2 of the program will be awarded to one of the aforementioned competitors. NASA’s unmanned GL-10 Greased Lightning made a tethered flight test in August with free-flight tests planned for later in the
year. The aircraft combines a vertical takeoff and landing capability with the cruise efficiency
of a long-endurance airplane. The aircraft’s tilt-wing configuration is based on lessons learned from the previous concepts tested during the project and from VTOL research
aircraft from the 1960s and 1970s
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