
As industry readies its experimental vertical-lift aircraft for Army evaluation, aviation officials have made clear they do not consider the two Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrators (JMR-TD) to be prototypes of future helicopters.Maj. Gen. William Gayler, chief of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence (AACE) said Bell Helicopter’s V-280 Valor next-generation tiltrotor and the SB-1 Defiant built by Boeing [BA] and Sikorsky will simply demonstrate current vertical lift technology and inform requirements for the follow-on Future Vertical Lift (FVL) family of…