The design uses tiltrotors to take off vertically and transition to high-speed forward flight, enabling performance unachievable with just rotorcraft or fixed-wing aircraft.

It leverages technologies which Bell previously utilized for the V-22 Osprey and V-280 Valor for the Future Vertical Lift program, and the HV-911 Eagle Eye, another smaller unmanned tiltrotor dropped in 2008.

The aircraft is capable of performing a variety of missions including electronic warfare, persistent fire support, airborne early warning (AEW), and resupply.

The U.S. Army is also interested in runway-independent unmanned aircraft, and the Vigilant could be incorporated into manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) arrangements where helicopter pilots have the ability to control nearby drones from the cockpit using a tactical common data-link.

To enable size compatibility with U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, the wing and rotors swivel along the 37 ft (11 m)-long fuselage to have the same footprint as the UH-1Y Venom helicopter; two folded up V-247s can fit inside one C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft.