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Eagle Eye UAV

The Bell Eagle Eye HV-911 has the appearance of a conventional aircraft with tilt rotors at the end of each wing that allow it to maneuver up or down and hover. Bell Helicopter Textron Incorporation (BHTI) became involved with the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) program by taking the wind tunnel V-22 model, using off the shelf helicopter parts, i.e., engine, drive shafts, gear boxes, etc. and built the Eagle Eye tilt rotor UAV.

The Eagle Eye has a wing span of 15.2 ft, is 17.9 ft in length, is 5.7 ft high, and weighs around 2,000 pounds (depending on payload). The first flight test (hover only) were conducted at BHTI facility in Dallas, Texas during the winter/spring of 1992.

After successful hover flight tests, the government and contractor teams moved to Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG) for flight test during the third quarter of 1993. The flight tests were very successful and the Eagle Eye flew in helicopter mode, converted through the transition mode to aircraft mode. 35 flights were conducted with a total flight time of 15 hours. Average flight hour per sortie was .43 hrs/flt. Maximum airspeed attained was 159 knots at an operating altitude of 1,550 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL).

The government had no further Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) requirements and concluded all VTOL demonstration/development contract actions. BHTI continued to develop the Eagle Eye with in house R&D dollars.

In the spring of 1998 the government once again wanted a demonstration of VTOL air vehicle capabilities and contracted BHTI to demonstrate the flying qualities and performance characteristics of the Eagle Eye. This became a two Phase program. Phase I was a land based flight demonstration and Phase II will be sea based flight demonstration. Phase I was accomplished in April 1998. The aircraft has flown more than 43 times, exceeding 55.5 flight hours and achieving airspeed of more than 200 knots, with an altitude of 14,600 feet during the demonstration at Yuma Proving Ground.

Phase II of the program is scheduled for the last quarter of FY99 and will be conducted aboard a small Naval combatant.

In February 2003, Bell Helicopter, Textron Inc., was awarded a contract to commence concept and preliminary design work for its Eagle Eye tiltrotor, Veritical Takeoff and Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (VUAV) for us in the Coast Gaurd Integrated Deep Water System. The VUAV is a short-range, low maintenance shipboard deployable unmanned aircraft. The VUAV will allow the Coast Guard to extend the surveillance, classification and identification capability of its major cutters through its speed, range, and endurance and at a lower cost. This asset will be used for maritime homeland security, search and rescue missions, enforcement of laws and treaties including illegal drug interdiction, marine environmental protection, and military preparedness. The Eagle Eye will be an interoperable asset integrated with supporting command, control, computers, communication, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) technology.

This matrix outlines performance demonstrated during the VTOL UAV landbased demonstration at Yuma Proving Grounds. This demonstration called for up to 50 flight hours in a 90 day period.