AMARILLO, Texas — In less than six months, Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor prototype, built for a U.S. Army capability demonstration, has gone from ground runs to cruising speeds of 195 knots and has been put through its paces in hover mode.

And V-280 continues to push the envelope as it flies deeper into the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstration (JMR-TD) that is expected to wrap up in fiscal year 2019 when the Army and its joint partners decide what it will pursue for a Future Vertical Lift aircraft that is expected to be fielded in the 2030s but possibly sooner.

Valor flew for a small group of reporters in its first public demonstration June 18 at Bell’s Amarillo production facility, where its legacy tiltrotor — the V-22 Osprey — is still coming off the production line for the Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force.

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