Sikorsky says that the S-97 Raider has a cruising speed of 253 mph (407 km/h, 220 kn), which is more than double the speed of conventional helicopters, and pulls three G's in the turns for. Primarily the advantages were compactness and the elimination of the tail rotor; no thought or capability of using advancing blade lift was considered in these designs. "Sikorsky will begin ground testing shortly and is on track for first flight this year," Steve Engebretson, Sikorsky's director of advanced military programs, said in an emailed statement. XH-59A (S-69) Altitude Airspeed Envelope, Isometric Drawing by Andy Whyte of the Proposed XH-59B, Timeline of the Sikorsky Aircraft Company, Sikorsky Aircraft Paintings by Andy Whyte. There are several vendors now competing as part of an intense Army competition to ultimately choose and deploy a new fleet of aircraft with a much greater combat radius, fuel efficiency, speed, weapons, sensors and computer systems. Sikorsky and Boeing are protesting the Armys decision to award a lucrative defense contract to replace the services Black Hawk helicopters with a tiltrotor aircraft manufactured by Bell Textron. It's not an everyday look for a helicopter, to say the least. Sikorskys compound-helicopter experiments also started in the 1970s with the experimental XH-59, then were revived in the X2 demonstrator now in the Smithsonian. As a practicing engineer in the rotorcraft industry since 1997, I have had increasing responsibilities during the development of the AW609, Deepwater tiltrotor UAV, Bell Model 429, Sikorsky CH-53K . Sikorsky did many conceptual designs of aircraft using the ABC principle. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! So it should be no surprise that, ahead of next weeks mammoth Association of the US Army conference in Washington, Bell flew reporters out to its factory here to talk up the V-280 Valor and to denigrate the Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 Defiant. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. Those high speeds for the X2 and S-97 stem from a combination of next-generation technology, a streamlined fuselage and, most dramatically, a striking reconfiguration of the standard rotor setup for a helicopter -- two stacked main rotors and a pusher propeller at the tail. We are testing the limitsand pioneering this exciting innovation.". The tail contacted the ground first and the aircraft rolled over until the blades struck the ground. The airframe was circular in cross section, sized for a crew of two in a side-by-side configuration, and with a small cabin for experimental test equipment. propellers,a significant difference in design from helicopters of the past six decades. When they showed footage of it in a high speed run and posted the numbers, you knew it was the future. While it did not crash, it did tip over as it sat idling on the heliport atop the Pan Am Building (now the MetLife . In September 2010, Sikorsky's similarly designed X2 technology demonstrator reached a speed of 250 knots (287 mph), a feat that the longtime rotorcraft maker at the time said "unofficially shattered the helicopter world speed record." That depends on who you believe and what the mission is. If FARA is about finding a next-gen armed scout helicopter, then FLRAA is all about choosing a larger, Black-Hawk-type helicopter. The design team had never dealt with a rotor system as stiff as this before. Source: Sikorsky [Click here for Bells argument for accelerating FVL by cancelling other programs]. It had the disadvantage of a tall rotor system which was incompatible with the Armys requirement that the UTTAS be air transportable in the C-130/141. AARV display model Helicopter configurations . Sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter. And ABC promised improved maneuverability over conventional helicopters. Sikorskys SB Defiant, which recently took a demo flight at a Sikorsky range in West Palm Beach Florida before the Armys Chief of Staff, has reportedly hit speeds of 250 knots, more than twice that of a current Black Hawk. Nearlythree years ago, Sikorsky Aircraft announced it would develop technologies ? The same design approach was also considered for a larger AAPC, Aerial Armored Personnel Carrier, carrying twelve troops within the armored fuselage. Want the latest defense industry news? The CH-53K helicopter has been designed and built to the exacting standards of the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and will serve as its critical land and sea based logistics connector. Although designed in to the gearbox, this feature was not found to be required during the development flight test program. The entire flight envelope was flown without any artificial stabilization equipment. Privacy Terms of Use EU and UK Data Protection Notice Cookies. Loz has been one of our most versatile contributors since 2007, and has since proven himself as a photographer, videographer, presenter, producer and podcast engineer, as well as a senior features writer. However,the new Sikorsky aircraft will have one or more aft-mounted ?pusher? Born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1889 to a family of physicians, Igor Sikorsky actually built his first helicopter at the age of 12. When the job is hot, high, dirty or dangerous, the K-MAX is ready performing multiple missions. When the compound helicopter is hovering, the rotors on top get most of the engine power and do most of the work, much like a traditional helicopter. Concurrently, Sikorsky was in the early stages of developing the Advancing Blade Concept (ABC) for extending the speed range of helicopters. Pino said of the X2 TechnologyDemonstrator at Heli-Expo 2008, the main U.S. helicopter convention. ?This couldbe a ?game changer? The SB>1 Defiant is a joint multi-role medium-class Future Vertical Lift technology demonstrator built around Sikorsky's X2 platform, which uses two counter-rotating rigid blades on the top of the aircraft to eliminate the retreating blade stall problem that puts a ~150 mph (~240 kmh) speed limit on helicopters with a single top rotor. This project involved both Army and company funds over a two and a half year period. First came the superfast X2 helicopter. The Bell-Boeing V-22s now in service, for example, cruise comfortably at 270 knots, about 310 miles per hour, with a mission radius of 428 nautical miles, about 490 miles (and that, of course, is without being refueled). [4] Sikorsky S-97 Raider Light Tactical Helicopter The S-97 Raider is a light tactical helicopter being developed by Sikorsky to demonstrate the capabilities of the company's X2 Technology. However, the direction chosen seems to depend on where the helicopter is designed and built. The Containerized Flight Training Device (CFTD) is a full-mission flight simulator that will allow flight crews to train on the full scope of Marine Corps heavy lift missions, including external lift operations, and executing degraded visual environment take-offs and landings. The two main rotors of the S-97 are coaxial, and they rotate in opposite directions, driving both lift and forward flight. The aircraft was designed to fly with or without the auxiliary propulsion J-60s installed. Igor Sikorsky continued working on helicopter design and production for the rest of his life, preferring to emphasize non-military applications and gaining most satisfaction from the unique suitability of helicopters to reach difficult areas on rescue and mercy missions. In this work, different modelling aspects of helicopter dynamics are discussed. Sikorsky and Boeing have been working on this high-speed, long-range, ultra-maneuverable military helicopter design for some time, and now they've released the first photos of what is expected to become a highly effective US Army utility helicopter sometime in the 2030s. The other is Sikorsky, whose flying machine is called the Raider X. Sikorskys candidate features coaxial top rotors: The two large rotors on top of the helicopter, which give it lift, spin in opposite directions, negating the need for a traditional tail rotor. These two ideas were combined into an aircraft with an armor fuselage and an ABC rotor system. . Elevators were included in the tail. To replace the Armys current Black Hawk transports, an aircraft needs to be able to land quickly in tight spaces under fire, drop troops, and then take off again ideally flying backwards so it doesnt have to wait to turn around. Sikorsky and Boeing hope that the Army chooses this flying machine to be its next Black-Hawk-type aircraft, as it's a candidate in a program called FLRAA, which stands for Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft.Defiant's competition comes from Bell, whose entry into the showdown is called the V-280 Valor.Unlike the Defiant, the V-280 is a tiltrotor aircraft, meaning that large rotors on the . In high speed flight the XH-59A handled as though it were a fixed wing aircraft. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. They will be coming soon I'd imagine fb. Igor Sikorsky seems to be the first to settle on using a single rotor mounted at the rear of the helicopter as a way to counter the torque. - Prayer, revival and Jesus Revolution: Is our rotting culture on verge of something big? Groundtesting of the X2 Technology Demonstrator is still underway and Sikorsky hasn'tyet scheduled a date for the aircraft's first flight, said company spokesmanPaul Jackson. Registration or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Melissa Chadwick But when you start moving forward through the air, the blade starts developing extra lift on the side where the blades are rushing forward into the wind, and less lift on the opposite side where the blades are going backwards with the wind. Someday, the Army could welcome a new scout helicopter into its fleet. Naval Air Test Center Technical Report, RW-37R-79, Final report, Advanced Helicopter Rotor Systems, Initial Navy Evaluation of the XH-59A Advancing Blade Concept (ABC) Demonstrator Aircraft, LT. T.L.MacDonald, USN; MAJ M.S.Blair, USMC; and S. Kolwey, January 17, 1980. That cannon is attached to a turret. The Sikorsky-Boeing tech demonstrator SB-1 Defiant first took flight in March 2019 and leverages Sikorskys X2 technology with a rigid compound rotor and pusher prop. But all of these were two conventional rotors mounted in a coaxial counter-rotational configuration. It was proposed by the Serbian man Dragoljub . 1. Sikorsky's helicopters featured a sophisticated design which outperformed other manufacturers. The data and discussions lead us to believe the proposals were not consistently evaluated to deliver the best value in the interest of the Army, our soldiers and American taxpayers, Sikorsky said in a statement. The turning power comes not from a rotating engine in the helicopter body but from the roto Continue Reading Sponsored by TruHeight Still looking for TruHeight Gummies? His last day in his office at the Stratford plant of Sikorsky Aircraft was the day before Jul 29, 1973 : S-69 ABC (XH-59) The ABC (Advancing Blade Concept) was designed to prove the viability of two counter rotating main rotors on a common axis as a means of achieving higher speeds and better agility There are two main ways to overcome this inherent speed limit of helicopters: tilt-rotors, like Bells V-280, or compound helicopters, like the Boeing-Sikorsky SB>1. . Sikorskybuilt the X2 Technology Demonstrator in collaboration with subsidiary SchweizerAircraft, and funded the project entirely by itself. The counter-rotating blade is basedupon innovative engineering methods that combines airplane-like speeds with the hovering and maneuvering capabilities unique to helicopters. The retreating blades are going slower relative to the air, because they subtract the helicopters speed from their own, so they generate less lift. One of the unique features of the XH-59A gearbox was an ability to create differential rotor speed, which would provide yawing moments which did not reverse in autorotation. Up to twice as fast as a regular helicopter. But the mission is not simply to fly long distances. The demonstrated agility, stability, and increased speed would provide tactical flight crews with additional capabilities to fight and win on the modern battlefield. The team gave the aircraft the best rating possible for hover out-of-ground-effect (HOGE) handling qualities. They also closed multiple facilities, moving commercial products to PA. Modern Era This promised to be much lighter than the armor then available and more effective at defeating ballistic threats. 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