The Bell V-280 Valor — a tilt-rotor aircraft being developed by Bell Helicopter and Lockheed Martin for the US Army’s Future Vertical Lift programme — was officially unveiled at the 2013 Army Aviation Association of America’s Annual Professional Forum and Exposition in Fort Worth, Texas.

The V-280 made its first flight on 18 December in Amarillo, Texas. Further tests this year have seen it reach a speed of 80 knots and an altitude of 1,000ft.

The test points demonstrated included: ‘ground taxi’, ‘hover taxi’, low-altitude hovering manoeuvres (including 360deg pedal turns and forward/aft/lateral repositions), and 40-knot roll-on landings.