The Bell 360 Invictus was a proposed helicopter design intended to meet the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

requirement for a

Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft The Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program was initiated by the United States Army in 2018 to develop a successor to the Bell OH-58 Kiowa scout helicopter as part of the Future Vertical Lift program. The OH-58 was retired in 2017 ...

(FARA). It is based on technology from the

Bell 525 Relentless The Bell 525 Relentless is an American super-medium-lift helicopter, under development by Bell Textron. The new model was unveiled at the 2012 Heli-Expo in Dallas, Texas in February 2012. It first flew on 1 July 2015. The Bell 525 is design ...

Design and development

Scott C. Donnelly, CEO of

Textron Textron Inc. is an American industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in Providence, Rhode Island. Textron's subsidiaries include Arctic Cat, Bell Textron, Kautex, Textron Aviation (which itself includes the Beechcraft and Cessna b ...

, has said in April 2019 that the Bell 360 will be based on the Bell 525. The 360 and 525 will share an articulated rotor system, although the 360, which will only seat two (a pilot and gunner), will use a single engine and a four-blade rotor, whereas the 525 uses twin engines and a five-blade rotor and has a nineteen-passenger capacity. Bell has since announced it is developing the 360 with

Collins Aerospace Collins Aerospace is an American technology company that is one of the world's largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products. It was formed in 2018 from the merger of Rockwell Collins and UTC Aerospace Systems. Headquartered in Charlotte, ...

, and the

Sierra Nevada Corporation Sierra Nevada Corporation (also styled SNC) is an American aerospace, defense, electronics, engineering and manufacturing corporation that specializes in aircraft modification, integration and other space technologies. The corporation contracts ...

is developing the mission systems for the aircraft. The design was unveiled on 1 October 2019, showing a two-seat

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

, with sighting optics and/or

laser designator A laser designator is a laser light source which is used to designate a target. Laser designators provide targeting for laser-guided bombs, missiles, or precision artillery munitions, such as the Paveway series of bombs, AGM-114 Hellfire ...

above a 20mm cannon

gun turret A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanis ...

at the chin position below the cockpit, mid-mounted stub wings below the shrouded rotor hub and four diameter

rotor blade On a helicopter, the main rotor or rotor system is the combination of several rotary wings (rotor blades) with a control system, that generates the aerodynamic lift force that supports the weight of the helicopter, and the thrust that countera ...

s, an active

horizontal stabilizer A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lifting surface located on the tail ( empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplan ...

and a tilted and shrouded tail rotor. Missiles are mounted on integrated launchers. The rotor diameter is dictated by US Army requirements, which specified that maximum diameter for FARA candidates to allow the rotorcraft to fit between buildings on future battlefields. Its main engine will be a single General Electric T901 turboshaft engine, with supplemental power from a Pratt & Whitney PW207D1 turboshaft. The US Army requirement calls for a cruising speed in excess of , and the 360 is intended to meet this; the Bell 525 rotor system has been tested to exceed . The stub wings are intended to provide lift equivalent to approximately 50% of the weight of the aircraft at moderate to high speed. Combat radius will be with at least 90 minutes time on station. It will use

fly-by-wire Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional aircraft flight control system#Hydro-mechanical, manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic sig ...

control. Bell unveiled a full-scale

mockup In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at lea ...

of the 360 at the

Association of the United States Army The Association of the United States Army (AUSA) is a private, non-profit organization that serves as the professional association of the United States Army. Founded in 1950, it has 121 chapters worldwide. Membership is open to everyone, not ju ...

annual show beginning 14 October 2019. On 8 February 2024, the US Army ended development on Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, with Army Chief of Staff Randy George saying the decision was influenced by the use of inexpensive unmanned systems in the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

,Judson, Jen
"US Army spent billions on a new helicopter that now will never fly"
Defense News, 8 February 2024. putting the service's long-term aviation plans in doubt.

Specifications (Bell 360)

References

External links

* {{Bell Aircraft Bell aircraft Single-turbine helicopters United States military helicopters Fantail helicopters 2020s United States helicopters 2020s United States attack aircraft Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Single-rotor helicopters Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear

Design and development

Specifications (Bell 360)

See also

References

External links