V-247 Tiltrotor Drone Downsized For Strike Role Aboard Navy Ships

Bell has resurrected the unmanned V-247 Vigilant designed for the Marine Corps and scaled it down for use as a strike and surveillance aircraft aboard Navy ships, where the autonomous tiltrotor can fit in the same space as an MH-60R and perform any of the manned helicopter’s missions. 

Designed as a contender for the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Experimental, or MUX program, Bell’s V-247 Vigilant is now on offer to the larger sea service for the Future Vertical Lift Maritime Strike (FVL-MS) development effort. That called for shaving several thousand pounds from the aircraft’s fuselage and “right-sizing” the rotor blades, nacelles, and other elements of the aircraft to meet Navy requirements, Todd Worden, Bell’s senior manager for advanced tiltrotor systems, told The War Zone.