Lessons From Ukraine Have Influenced the MV-75 Valor Convertiplane Project in the United States

The US military is taking lessons from the war in Ukraine to improve the Valor project, a promising MV-75 convertiplane.

Brigadier General David Phillips, executive officer of the aviation program, told The War Zone in an interview.

Although both Ukraine and Russia have suffered heavy losses of helicopters due to dense air defense, and in some cases due to drones and attacks on bases, the US Army is drawing informed conclusions about how to apply the experience gained.

As many helicopters have also been lost to attacks on bases, the US military also emphasizes the importance of controlling the skies.

“I think the right lesson is that everyone has to look up. And that includes your logistics and repair points on the ground. We are looking at how to make them mobile. We shouldn’t have large accumulations of equipment on the ground. And every soldier, whether you’re on the plane or servicing the plane on the ground, has to be aware of what’s going on above them,” the US military says.

The U.S. Army’s aviation assets currently include the UH-60 Black Hawk, CH-47 Chinook, AH-64E Apache, and heavily modified MH-60M Black Hawk, MH-47G Chinook, and AH/MH-6R Little Bird helicopters.

From the war in Ukraine, the U.S. military has learned important lessons in planning helicopter operations and the importance of striking at an equal foe with standoff weapons. Standoff is a safety distance or distance from a target from which an aircraft (helicopter, airplane, UAV) can strike or conduct surveillance without entering the enemy’s kill zone.

Impact on the convertiplane

All of this experience has also influenced the prospective MV-75 convertiplane design from the Valor project.

“From a technical and operational point of view, you can link the decisions we make for the MV-75 directly to these lessons: how we integrate networks, how we ensure the survivability of the platform. I think we’re definitely integrating that into our design efforts today as we prepare for a critical design review in the spring,” said David Phillips.

Bell Textron’s V-280 Valor, a convertiplane, which won the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program in 2022 to replace the H-60 Black Hawk helicopter, will receive the official Army designation MV-75 in 2025.

The Valor is a third-generation convertiplane developed by Bell Helicopter and Lockheed Martin for the United States Army under the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program.

It was planned that the MV-75 would enter service in 2030, but it was recently announced that the timeline would be accelerated to 2028. With the MV-75 intended to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk, the US Army is currently positioning it to complement its existing fleet. It is planned to operate both the Black Hawk and MV-75 simultaneously for several decades.