Eurocopter X3.

This is coolbert:

Here is the alternative to the Osprey? NOT exactly so. NOT having that heavy lift capability AND ONLY in the experimental stage but a hybrid aircraft able to function much as either a conventional fixed OR rotary wing airplane!

The Eurocopter X3. 

"Record-setting X3 Helicopter Shows Off at Paris Air Show"

"Paris: It's a helicopter, but it's not ungainly. It's a helicopter, but it has two forward-facing propellers. It's a helicopter but it flies as fast as some planes."

"It is the X3, a very high-speed helicopter built by European defense giant EADS. It's already set one speed record, zooming at 279.6 miles per hour (232 knots or 450 km per hour)."

"The X3 . . . equipped with two turboshaft engines that power a five-blade main rotor system and two propellers which are installed on short-span fixed wings . . . offering the speed of a turboprop-powered aircraft and the full hover flight capabilities of a helicopter."

The hybrid. A rotary wing allowing for vertical take off and landing but able to move forward at high speed using those turbo engines.

The X3 NOT having a heavy lift capability as does the Osprey OR even yet contemplated in the military version. ONLY civilian applications envisioned for the X3 at this time.

Something not right here? As with the Osprey, those engine blades port and starboard a danger when the bird hovering and close to the ground, a pilot when in distress from tilt and side-to-side wobble over-compensating with possible disastrous consequences?

coolbert.