[MilCom] V-22 On Steroids

[Steve Douglass]

Someone in the Pentagon must be impressed by tilt rotor potential 
despite them being "flying deathtraps!";


Aerospace Daily & Defense Report
Army awards Joint Heavy Lift study contract to Bell/Boeing
09/20/2005 09:44:58 AM
By Jefferson Morris
The U.S. Army has awarded a Bell Helicopter/Boeing team a $3.45 
million 18-month contract to perform conceptual design and analysis 
of its Quad Tiltrotor aircraft for the Joint Heavy Lift program.
The Army's Cargo Helicopters project management office is overseeing 
JHL with participation from the other services. Several more study 
contracts are expected, with a development and demonstration program 
to follow in fiscal 2007 (DAILY, July 26).
The Quad Tiltrotor is an evolved version of the Bell/Boeing V-22 
Osprey. The QTR is a tandem-wing aircraft featuring four tilting 
prop-rotors and a large cargo fuselage.

---SNIP------

Note: If you take a close look at the history of aviation you'll find 
many cutting-edge programs such as the F-117, B-1, F-111, SR-71 and 
others also suffered from crashes during their development, but as 
the learning curve goes up and systems evolve they have all become 
important military assets.

INMHO, I think the V-22 and its offspring will prove themselves to be 
reliable, safe and a great military asset for Marine expeditionary 
forces, and USAF special Ops, despite what the critics say.  Sure, 
some will crash, some will be shot down just as every combat aircraft 
type has.

Feel free to disagree.

_Steve Douglass




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