Military potential of TiltRotor aircraft

Extract

The TiltRotor concept combines the wing of an aircraft with the rotors of a helicopter. The result is a VTOL aircraft which is fuel-efficient in both cruise and hover. It can be thought of as a turboprop aircraft which can take off and land vertically, but it is also an advanced rotorcraft which has twice the speed and range of present-day helicopters.

When presented with yet another VTOL aircraft proposition, many people are quick to look for its shortcomings. The most obvious is the empty weight penalty. As an aircraft, the TiltRotor is burdened with a helicopter’s transmission, rotor, and controls. As a helicopter, the TiltRotor carries along an aircraft wing and controls, with a small hover efficiency penalty imposed by the high disc loading.