One way or the other, we will see the private flying transport before the end of this century. Materials and information technology advances have brought the idea to the edge of viability and this venture between Bell and an Israeli company might just be enough to push it over the edge.
On Monday at the Farnborough International Airshow, Bell Helicopter announced that it will team with an Israeli company to develop a futuristic aircraft that would allow soldiers and police far greater mobility in cities.
The X-Hawk, as envisioned by Bell, could hold a pilot and up to 11 troops. It could navigate congested urban areas by flying above narrow streets and between closely spaced buildings.
Propelled by two jet turbine engines that would drive pusher propellers and downward-thrust lift fans, similar to those on the short-takeoff-vertical-landing version of the F-35 Lightning II, the X-Hawk could operate in spaces far more confined than a helicopter can.
If they do not do it, someone else will. There are multiple ‘flying car’ projects out there and someday someone will cross the threshold into commercial viability.
Ed:Thank reader Steven Peterson for pointing us to this article
What a lame article albeit the interesting vehicle . Get a guy with a 50$ rpg and bye-bye a multimillion dolar vehicle and 11 soldiers and crew.
Somewhat OT, but is the JSF now officially the Lightning II?
Marvellous: throughout my boyhood we were told that soon we’d all be travelling to work by gyrocopter, or on moving pavements. That was in the 50s.
Is it just me or does the lifting fan look seriously out of alignment with the centre of mass.
Personally I would not give much credence to an artists conception of something that is an extrapolation of a test craft and has not even been designed yet as far as I know…
I also doubt it would be floating around in places with RPG’s. But it could be hellishly effective for a rapid deployment around a target, whether police raid or anti-terrorist operation. I also think I might feel at least as safe in a craft like this coming into battle as I would in an Osprey…
Personally it is the eventual civilian use of technology like this which interests me. If Bell wants to sink some millions into the field, then all the better.
Actually I find that a fascinating commentary upon the sad times that we live in. Someone invents a device like that and what’s the first comment we see?
Julian: We do live in sad……and ‘interesting’ times. While pessimistic, there’s sense in luckylucky’s remarks. As a military assest it would be next-door to useless, the RPG being the PIAT of our times. As a rich man’s toy it could have a future as a sexy skirtless hovercraft.
luckylucky was just responding to the original sad comment on the interesting device, which was:
For that matter, the title of the original article is, “Bell to help develop aircraft for urban combat.”
No mention at all of any use as, say, an ambulance, for firefighting, or search and rescue–just a lot of talk about killing rebels.
Actually, this is a modern iteration of the Piasecki Air Geep(Link), which first flew back in the 1950’s. So this isn’t a new concept, just a concept that is more feasible with high tech engines and modern materials that allow a sufficient thrust:weight ratio for decent payload and performance.
There is a second lift fan that is hard to see behind the passengers in the image in the article you cited, so CG/CL issues are not violated….
Mike Lorrey’s link shows that this sort of concept pops up from time to time. The thing that kills them every time is that they are inherently inefficient, thus expensive to operate and will have a short range and/or endurance.
For propulsive or lifting efficiency the basic principle is that is its more efficient to move a large mass of air with a small velocity than it is to move a small mass of air with a large velocity. That is why airliners have evolved to high bypass ratio engines and helicopters have large main rotor disc diameters. At the other extreme the one man rocket pack has an endurance of 1 minute or so.
While smaller rotor discs, or even jet thrusters have applications in military aircraft such as the Harrier, or the VTOL version of the JSF (F-35) they tend to be for transition from stationary to high speed rather than main mode of lift in all flight regimes.
I think the inherent inefficiencies of this concept still make it an unlikely mass market people mover and, even for military or law enforcement applications, anything with less than an hour’s endurance is unlikely to be practical.
If vulnerability isn’t a problem, why isn’t a small airship with powerful steering props much more efficient than a lift-fan concept? Lighter-than-air has its problems, but it’s a proven concept.
Because a balloon is not a good way to get to work in any but the best of weather and will not fit in the average garage nor be able to take off from the average driveway or office parking lot.
I view all these developments with mixed emotions. It’s probably true that one day some form of automated, point-to-point aircraft will be practical (“one day” covering a fair bit of territory). But it will be the death of aviation as I know it — i.e., an exercise involving skill and adventure.
I only hope we manage to somehow reserve space where people can still enjoy piloted flight.
This thing will never get off the ground [sic].
The downdraught from the lift fans will blow the wigs off the lawyers as they scuttle round to find people who’ve had their eyes hurt by the flying dust and debris made by the same fans…
Never mind an RPG — because of weight issues, these flying assault vehicles would have to be made of light material (forget Kevlar, it’s not rigid enough), which means that the craft would be vulnerable to oh, crossbow bolts, rifle bullets and other such projectiles.
Not that I’ve had any experience in this kind of thing, not me, nossir.
Well, I’ll note that the Solotrek XFV’s builder, Millenium Jet, has reorganized as Trek Aerospace and wassuccessfully testing (Link)its backpack helicopter (now called the “Springtail”) at altitudes of 60 ft and more early last year. Claimed endurance is 2.2 hours, which at 113 mph top speed, offers a 248 mile range with a 225 lb payload capacity (pilot).
As stated previously: modern high tech engines (in this case, a very lightweight rotary engine) and materials technologies are affording feasible T:W ratios. The state of the art is improving…