The new heli for the Army?

In 2007, the US Army started the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program. The goal is to find a replacement for the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, Boeing AH-64 Apache, Boeing-Vertol CH-47 Chinook, and Bell OH-58 Kiowa. The latter is addressed in the subproject Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA). Five applicants are participating in this program, and one of them is Bell with the 360 Invictus.

To ensure everything goes smoothly, Bell has partnered with a total of nine leading industry partners, each excelling in their field. These partners include:

• Astronics Corporation for a modular framework of products for power generation, conversion, and distribution in the aircraft cell
• Collins Aerospace for integrating a new generation of avionics hardware and software with cyber-hardened and digital backbone solutions for configuration and integration of mission systems
• GE Aviation for the 3,000 horsepower T901 engine and work on the Aircraft Health Awareness System (HAS)
• ITT-Enidine Inc. for the passive Liquid Inertia Vibration Eliminator (LIVE) units for all modes of operation including high speed
• L3Harris Technologies for the WESCAM™ MX-15D, an advanced stabilized multi-sensor, multispectral imaging and targeting system
• Parker Lord for rotor dampers, the CF main rotor bearing, the torsional band for tail rotor tension, and the Active Vibration Control (AVC) system
• Mecaer Aviation Group, Inc. for a fully retractable landing gear system with a tail accelerator
• MOOG Inc. for flight control computer (FCC) electronics, software, and flight control actuation, critical components of the Bell Fly-by-Wire Flight Control System (FCS)
• TRU Simulation + Training for a high-fidelity flight simulator that provides pilots with a real feel for aircraft flight control

“Each team member brings a capability critical to the success of the Bell 360, and we are honored to have proven, capable, and respected industry partners on Team Invictus,” says Chris Gehler, Vice President and FARA Program Director at Bell. “This is an outstanding industry team, and we are eagerly working towards producing a FARA weapon system that is operationally effective, affordable, and sustainable, complementing the FLRAA program and sharing many commonalities with it.”

Following the selection of the Bell 360 Invictus for the competitive prototype in March 2020, Team Invictus continues to make rapid progress. The collective expertise of Team Invictus reduces program risk and maintains the Army's FARA schedule, leading to a first flight planned for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022.

Bell 360 Invictus online: www.bellflight.com/…/bell-360