Bell’s V-280 Valor has shown up before in a jet noise post. I said then that I have no idea whether this bird should win over Sikorsky/Boeing’s SB>1, and that’s still true, assuming that Boeing’s lackadaisical attitudes towards safety and FOD haven’t infected Sikorsky’s culture.
That said, Bell released a new video of the V-280 Valor in action, and it looks awesome. Also, look at the 4:44 mark for an appearance by Microsoft’s HoloLens wearable augmented reality system! That’s some tech that I really love seeing in action! It looks like Bell is leveraging HoloLens for interactive maintenance guides, and parts visualizations, which seems like a good application to me.
Will the V-280 eventually take the place of the UH-60 Blackhawk in the Army? I have no idea, but I hope it finds an application somewhere. Tiltrotors are cool.