The goal is to explore the future capabilities of next generation military vertical lift aircraft.

In May 2021, the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) signed a contract with Bell to conduct research into developing aircraft with HSVTOL capabilities for better speed, range, and survivability features. No details of what this entailed were released at the time, but now Bell has shed some light on the project.

Based on a released image and a patent applied for by Bell, the new aircraft concepts look similar to a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor, but where the Osprey simply rotates its propulsion nacelles from vertical to horizontal in different flight modes, the Bell concept switches to jet power in horizontal flight as the rotor blades fold back out of the way into the nacelles.