Ryan McCarthy, secretary of the U.S. Army, joined senior officials of the military service during a recent demonstration of a tiltrotor aircraft Textron's Bell subsidiary developed for the branch's Future Vertical Lift program, the Army News Service reported Tuesday.
A Bell V-280 Valor demonstrator reached a flight speed of 200 knots and performed vertical takeoff-and-landing maneuvers as part of the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration event.
JMR-TD, which the service designated as a "capability enabler," seeks to explore the potential of next-generation systems to help joint force commanders address multidomain requirements.
The Army is eyeing V-280 and SB-1 Defiant, a compound helicopter offering from the Boeing-Sikorsky team, as potential UH-60 Black Hawk replacements through the FVL program.
McCarthy said the companies are working to address "the issues of specific characteristics that we're looking for — whether it's power or speed."
Boeing and Sikorsky are scheduled to demonstrate SB-1 Defiant on Feb. 20 at the latter's facility in West Palm Beach, Fla.