Exploring the Bell 505, potential next-gen trainer: Weapon of the Week

[Ryan Robertson]

FISCAL YEAR 2025 IS SHAPING UP TO BE A BIG ONE FOR THE U.S. ARMY’S FUTURE LONG RANGE ASSAULT AIRCRAFT PROGRAM, OR, AS YOU MAY KNOW IT, THE BELL V-280 VALOR.

AFTER HITTING ALL THE MARKS FOR MILESTONE B, THE PROGRAM MOVED INTO THE ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING PHASE. THIS INCLUDES SIX PROTOTYPES, WITH THE FIRST FLIGHT EXPECTED IN 2026 AND INITIAL FIELDING BY 2030.

DESIGNED FOR A VARIETY OF MISSIONS LIKE AIR ASSAULT AND MEDICAL EVACUATION, THE TILT-ROTOR VALOR WAS CHOSEN TO ENHANCE THE ARMY’S H-60 BLACK HAWK FLEET WITH ITS LONG-RANGE, HIGH-SPEED CAPABILITIES.

BUT BEFORE A PILOT GETS THEIR HANDS ON THE V-280s CONTROLS, THEY’LL LIKELY HAVE TO TRANSITION THROUGH A TRAINING HELICOPTER.

RIGHT NOW THE ARMY TRAINS HELICOPTER PILOT CANDATES IN THE UH-72 LAKOTA. BUT THERE IS A PUSH TO MAKE THE BELL 505 THE TRAINER OF CHOICE. AND THAT’S WHY IT’S OUR WEAPON OF THE WEEK.

WITH MORE THAN 500 IN USE AROUND THE WORLD, THE BELL 505 IS A PROVEN PLATFORM THAT COULD BE USED TO PREPARE PILOTS IN WAYS THE UH-72 CAN’T.

[Matt Dorram, Senior Manager, Bell Textron]

“The current training aircraft. It does a lot of things for the pilot. It makes it makes pedal inputs for them automatically. It does other things automatically for them, which makes it easier to fly that aircraft. But that maybe isn’t such a good thing. When you’re training primary helicopter pilots, you kind of want them to understand all those fundamental what we call stick and rudder skills. And so this aircraft, if utilized in a future army training program, would allow the army to kind of go back to the future, I would call it, and get back to training those fundamental pilot skills in this aircraft.”

[RYAN]
AT AUSA 2024 MATT DORAMM, A SENIOR MANAGER AT BELL TEXTRON, WALKED US THROUGH SOME OF THE REASONS WHY THE 505 COULD HELP PILOTS GET READY TO MOVE ON TO MORE ADVANCED AIRCRAFT LIKE THE V-280. ONE OF THE BIGGEST BENEFITS IS THE ABILITY TO PRACTICE AUTO-ROTATION LANDINGS.

[Matt Dorram, Senior Manager, Bell Textron]

“So it’s, it’s essentially turn off the engine, or more accurately, go to idle, which uncouples the rotor from the engine, and now it allows the airflow through the rotor system in the descent, the airflow is what’s turning the rotor system, and it preserves rotor rpm until the very bottom, where we train pilots to execute the landing with that remaining rotor rpm and to safely and effectively land the aircraft. And it’s a very, very, very repeatable, very safe maneuver when done correctly. And it’s a great confidence builder. It shows those pilots that, hey, if you ever lose all your power, this is how you put it on the ground safely. And everybody walks away.”

[RYAN]
ANOTHER KEY FEATURE IS A GLASS COCKPIT. AND NO THAT’S NOT IN REFERENCE TO THE BIG WINDOWS ON THE FRONT OF THE CRAFT. GLASS COCKPIT MEANS THERE’S A CONTROL PANEL THAT USES DIGITAL DISPLAYS INSTEAD OF TRADITIONAL ANALOG INSTRUMENTS. INSTEAD OF A BUNCH OF DIALS AND GAUGES, THERE ARE LARGE SCREENS SHOWING IMPORTANT FLIGHT INFORMATION IN A CLEAR, EASY-TO-READ FORMAT.

[Matt Dorram, Senior Manager, Bell Textron]

“It’s got a Garmin 1000 cockpit, so a very, very modern glass cockpit that’s great for a modern training fleet, and it prepares pilots right away on working glass and going to their follow on whatever aircraft that might be.”

[RYAN]
THE IDEA IS TO MAKE IT SIMPLER FOR PILOTS TO ACCESS THE INFORMATION THEY NEED AT A GLANCE, IMPROVING SAFETY AND EFFICIENCY.

ANOTHER BENEFIT TO THE 505 IS IT’S A PROVEN PLATFORM, ESSENTIALLY READY TO GO OUT OF THE BOX.

[Matt Dorram, Senior Manager, Bell Textron]

“We make a lot of these aircraft today, over 100 a year in our current production line. So we’re selling these aircraft very rapidly. It’s not only a great training machine, and other foreign militaries are already recognizing the training value of this. We have military training fleets popping up all around the world. They’re buying six, eight, ten, twelve, forty, for their training fleets. And so it’s very much, you know, on the rise as a military trainer.”

[RYAN CONT VO]
WHILE THE ARMY STILL ISN’T OFFICIALLY CONFIRMING IT’S USING THE 505 AS A TRAINER FOR THE V-280 VALOR, THERE’S A LOT OF REASONS WHY THE NATION’S LARGEST SERVICE BRANCH MIGHT. INCLUDING ONE THAT WILL APPEAL TO THE PARENT CROWD. MORE SEATING.

[Matt Dorram, Senior Manager, Bell Textron]

“The back seat in this aircraft is kind of a stadium seating, and the rear center seat allows the non flying student pilot to sit there and watch instructor pilot and student pilot go through and do all the maneuvers and they can they get to see and hear it all with great visibility. And for me as an instructor pilot, that seat is really valuable as a training training training helicopter. They learn as much in that middle back seat as they probably do up front”

[Ryan]
OF COURSE, THE BIG QUESTION, ESPECIALLY IN LIGHT OF THE NEW ADMINISTRATION’S FOCUS ON COST-CUTTING, IS THE PRICE TAG. THE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE NUMBER FOR A 505 IS AROUND $2 MILLION. WHICH SOUNDS LIKE A LOT, UNTIL YOU CONSIDER IN 2020, THE ARMY PAID A LITTLE MORE THAT $122 MILLION FOR 15 UH-72s, WHICH AVERAGES OUT TO A LITTLE MORE THAN $8 MILLION PER AIRCRAFT.