V-280 Valor Vertical Lift Aircraft Reaches 280 Knots Airspeed

V-280 Valor vertical lift aircraft has reached a true airspeed of 280 knots.

The aircraft hit the airspeed in one year of flight testing, Keith Flail, vice president of Advanced Vertical Lift Systems at Bell, said in a statement Friday.

V-280 Valor was developed by Lockheed Martin and Bell Helicopters as a part of US' Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Program.

The V-280 flight testing will reduce FVL risk in the US Army led Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) program.

According to the company, the latest flight statistics includes forward flight at 280 knots true airspeed, over 85 hours of flight and 180 rotor turn hours, in-flight transitions between cruise mode and vertical takeoff and landing, 45-degree banked turns at 200 knots indicated airspeed, 4500 feet per minute rate of climb and sustained flight at 11,500 feet altitude, single flight ferry of over 370 miles, and low and high-speed agility with fly-by-wire controls.