And civilian uses are already being considered. 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. Since you can only generate lift by moving the whole aircraft forward, you need a long runway to take off and must keep moving forward while in flight. The initial version of this helicopter, called the SB>1 Defiant, flew for the first time in March of 2019, and Popular Science has also recognized it in its Best of What's New awards.. In 1972, both Boeing and Sikorsky were contracted to develop prototypes for this new breed of combat helicopter. Elevators were included in the tail. . That lets them take off and land vertically, fly sideways or backwards, and hover, but its not as fast or as fuel efficient in horizontal flight as an airplane. Sikorsky is pitching the funky, fast S-97 Raider as a replacement for today's light attack and scout helicopters, via the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program. In 1972 when the XH-59A design was initiated, Sikorsky was interested in an Aerial Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle, or AARV, which was a smaller size. That depends on who you believe and what the mission is. Concurrently, Sikorsky was in the early stages of developing the Advancing Blade Concept (ABC) for extending the speed range of helicopters. The upper and lower counter-rotating gear 62 u, 621 drive a respective upper and lower rotor shaft 64 u, 641 which rotates the counter-rotating rotor systems 28 a, 28 b about an axis R. Input power is transmitted from the powerplants 22 through the driveshafts 54 A, 54 B to the upper and lower counter-rotating gear 62 u, 621 and the drive shaft 38. Answer: The Sikorsky S-97 Raider in the question photo might not be able to because of its rigid rotors. Lockheed Sikorsky-Boeings SB Defiant has taken flight more recently than Textron-Bells 280 Valor, however both appear to be showing early promise. They also closed multiple facilities, moving commercial products to PA. Modern Era (203) 386-6086Fax: (203) 386-7300Web site: . For fb36 wondering why not a quad? (Each propeller may have an electric motor & electricity could be provided by a central gas turbine engine (that also provides extra forward thrust)!). (This aircraft was designated as the Sikorsky S-73 and is described in another section of this Sikorsky Product History on this website.) The CH-53K continues to successfully execute key performance, test, and production milestones. But the mission is not simply to fly long distances. His prediction: The Marines double down on tiltrotors, the Army willkeep upgrading conventional helicopters for the bulk of its fleet, and a smaller number of compound helicopters will be built as gunships and scouts. A helicopter, however, generates airflow over the wings, and thus, lift by spinning its wings thats what the rotor blades are, rotary wings. It generates thrust by angling the rotors in any direction. here for reprint permission. Airwolf would still eat it for breakfast. Sikorsky S-61 series solved several problems in helicopters of the day. Flight testing with the second aircraft resumed in November, 1974. The rotors are articulated and their blades are rigid. equipped with means for aerodynamic control of attitude and flight path In this work, different modelling aspects of helicopter dynamics are discussed. Designed to help the U.S. and allies leverage emerging technologies to create a resilient multi-domain network. Contra-rotating coaxial rotors cancels out the retreating blade stall limit of helicopters by providing a balancing lift with the opposite direction. The extra lift from each rotors advancing blade balances out the diminished lift from the opposite sides retreating blade, which gets rid of retreating blade stall. It's also a more complex beast than a traditional single-rotor configuration. requirements and appeal to the traveling public. When it comes to the fastest helicopters, the V-22 is by far the fastest- except it isn't really a helicopter at all. The purpose of the aft blades is to provide acounterforce to the torque effect on the fuselage created by the spinning maindisc. Also, some of the symmetry of the counter rotating blades, closelymirroring each otherin shape and size, will decrease turbulence and therefore improve the airflow and stability of flight. These advancements will prove critical for Army operations in a theater like the Indo-Pacific where the dominant geographical feature is water and yet land forces remain the predominant military force in the majority of nations in the region, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said following the flight demo, according to anArmy report. Taking action to help you protect what matters most. 2023 Lockheed Martin Corporation. 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. Igor Sikorskys predictions for air travel in general and for helicopters in particular have been largely realized or surpassed. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish). Two companies are competing against one another in a program called FARA (Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft) to create the whirlybird that will fill that role. This can get so unbalanced that it threatens to tip the helicopter over altogether if you don't stay beneath a defined maximum airspeed. Sikorsky did many conceptual designs of aircraft using the ABC principle. The aircraft continues tomake progress toward its first flight, said Peter Grant, Sikorsky's senior managerof Advanced Programs. Sikorsky Aircraft created the Advancing Blade Concept during the 1970s with the goal of significantly increasing helicopter flight speed. The pilot inputted more and more forward cyclic to counter this, until the stick was on the forward stop and the aircraft was still nosing up. 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. The ' Sikorsky Aircraft is currently added mechanical challenge of the two I 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 every day you see a helicopter that looks like this. Join PopSci+ to read sciences greatest stories. Learn More. Although thetop speed of helicopters has not increased much since the 1960s, improvementsin computers, materials, navigation systems, and other aspects of aircraftduring the past two generations have been unprecedented. However,the new Sikorsky aircraft will have one or more aft-mounted ?pusher? And ABC promised improved maneuverability over conventional helicopters. 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. The following reference has great detail of information on the full ABC program, including manufacturing technology used, aircraft description, and ground and flight test results: American Helicopter Society paper The ABC Rotor A Historical Perspective, Robert K. Burgess. A fixed-wing aircraft has engines to generate forward thrust jets or propellers and as it moves forward, air flows over the wings, which generates lift. Some balance is needed in order to keep the machine stable usually either another, counter-rotating rotor or a small vertically-mounted tail rotor. This proved to be successful, although it was a complex and expensive process which would have been prohibitive if the ABC were to be competitive for a production design. Nothing political here. Privacy Terms of Use EU and UK Data Protection Notice Cookies. Both helicopters, Raider and Defiant, have similar design elements: two counter-rotating top rotors, and a propeller in back. On a tour of the Stratford plant on Wednesday, a Sikorsky executive called the HH-60W Jolly Green II the most advanced combat helicopter ever produced by Sikorsky, with a range of defensive. Photo: Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. To paraphrase helicopter pioneer Igor Sikorsky: If you're in trouble . Rotor cyclic flaring is an important feature and attribute necessary for autorotation. Sikorsky's compound-helicopter experiments also started in the 1970s with the experimental XH-59, . 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. Built in Connecticut, the Sikorsky CH-53K is the latest in the Companys proud helicopter legacy. The latest technology in transparent armor would be used for the aircraft windows. 80 years ago, Russian-born inventor-engineer and pilot Igor Sikorsky made the first flight of his self-designed single-rotor helicopter, the VS-300. Vertipedia provides high-quality information on current and historical aircraft, as well as notable milestones in the history of vertical flight and biographical information on the people who made them happen. At this time, the effort was on developing the concept with no specific mission identified. Sikorsky's engineering studies showed that, to get a single-main-rotor helicopter to reach the speeds the Army wants, you need to squeeze every drop of power from the engine and streamline the. The V22 tilt-rotor uses counter-rotating proprotors in order to cancel out torque. +1 (800) WINGED-S (946-4337) Sikorsky first flew its contra-rotating main rotor and tail-mounted pusher prop-equipped X2 technology demonstrator in 2008, eventually achieving a speed of 253kt (468km/h) in 2011. k k k First Flights 35. positions. Whats visible is a simulated version of a system called the modular effects launcher, which someday could carry missiles, rockets, or other kinetic objects, like drones or other sensors. The object protruding from the front is a 3D-printed simulated cannon. In late May, Sikorsky first turned on power to its S-97 prototype, which at the time was about halfway through assembly. Putting it simply, at a stable hover with no ambient wind, a helicopter's top blade generates an equal amount of lift throughout its whole rotation around the central axis. The Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing team has debuted a new facility here in Huntsville to help create what they hope will become the next generation of rotorcraft. This project involved both Army and company funds over a two and a half year period. Sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter. On the ground, the top rotors can be folded back, allowing it to be stored and transported easily. The blades were coned up at 3. Heres how it works. The main fuselage of the AARV was to be constructed from half-inch thick dual hardness armor. Media Contact The XH-59A proved the basic advancing blade concept, achieving a level flight speed of 240 knots without the use of a wing, a feat never before accomplished by the helicopter industry. Here's What You Need To Remember:The new aircraft will employ several measures designed to make it quieter, including, most notably, a counter-rotating rotor that muffles the sound of the first. You dont want to wait for your rotors to tilt from vertical to horizontal flight mode like a V-22 or V-280, Van Buiten argued. By the 1960s Sikorsky believed that technology had progressed to the point that a practical application of the concept was possible. Igor Sikorsky's helicopter patent sketch, 1930. The Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant (stylized as "SB>1"; company designation S-100) is the Sikorsky Aircraft and Boeing entry for the United States Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program to replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk.It is a compound helicopter with rigid coaxial rotors, powered by two Honeywell T55 turboshaft engines; it first flew on 21 March 2019. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the ArmyAcquisition, Logistics & Technology. A composite rotor system, with flexbeams replacing the pitch bearings, would replace the heavy titanium blades on the A version. That might require different designs for different missions and different services, Aboulafia told me, with the military ending up with a mix of tiltrotors, compound helicopters, and traditional helicopters. There was much concern about the extremely high control power that the rotor could develop. Box 9729Stratford, Connecticut 06497-9129U.S.A. X2Technology aircraft will take-off and land vertically, hover, maneuver at lowspeeds, and transition from hover to forward flight like regular helicopters. Its twin rotor system will minimize downwash as you get on and off, and Sikorsky also claims a "dramatically reduced acoustic signature." Helicopter with counter-rotating coaxial rotors without cyclic variation of pitch. Unlike most helicopters, Sikorskys bid uses two counter-rotating coaxial main rotors and a pusher propeller that the company says will allow for quicker acceleration and deceleration. It is not at all unusual for weapons system requirements to be refined throughout the developmental process of a new platform, given that new things are learned on an ongoing basis. The Kiowa, which has been the Army's primary scout helicopter since the mid-1990s, by contrast has a cruising speed in the area of 120 mph. He honed his language skills as a US Army linguist (Polish and German) before diving into editing tech publications back when the web was just getting under way. The rotor diameter would grow to 40 feet, the same size as the ABC rotor being tested at the time in the NASA Ames wind tunnel. The tail contacted the ground first and the aircraft rolled over until the blades struck the ground. The XH-59A exhibited excellent handling qualities. | Sikorsky was unique in devoting his efforts to . Sikorsky's SB Defiant, which recently took a demo flight at a Sikorsky range in West Palm Beach Florida before the Army's Chief of Staff, has reportedly hit speeds of 250 knots, more than twice. Kamov has been making dual contrarotating rotor helicopters since the 1940-s. Business optimism reigned supreme at Sikorsky Aircraft during the 1980s decade. The aircraft has been assigned the registration N100FV. Update: In an email, an Army spokesperson says the service plans to make a decision for one FARA aircraft in fiscal year 2025, which for the US government begins Oct. 1, 2024. ABC required the spar to be tapered in both diameter and wall thickness to be able to carry the high bending moments developed when the rotors lift moved off the rotor centerline. This article first appeared last month. The review board is being very thorough and the contract awardee will be announced when the board completes its review, an Army spokesperson said via email, regarding FLRAA. ?Customers aredemanding greater speed but without sacrificing any of the unique capabilitiesthat make helicopters theideal platform for countless civil and military missions.? The Sikorsky S-97 Raider has an unusual configuration, with two coaxial main rotors on top and a pusher propeller in the rear. Sikorsky hopes that the sleek, speedy design of the S-97, unveiled Thursday, will win the favor of the US Army as a potential replacement for OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter, an airframe whose. The Army plans to publish new requirements for the helicopter by 2021 based upon data gathered and lessons learned through ongoing experiments,weapons developmentand test flights, the report added. Eric Adams Eric. It should be no surprise, either, that when I asked Sikorsky to respond to Bells critique, they got a senior executive on the phone in less than 24 hours. The aircraft, which will feature fly-by-wire controls, will be able to carry a variety of external weapons and sensors to suit missions including light assault or armed aerial scout. They were refined in the S-97 Raider and now the SB>1. Speed Demon: The Sikorsky X2 experimental helicopter is, unofficially, the fastest on Earth. To replace the Apache gunships, an aircraft needs to fly low and slow over the battlefield, ducking behind cover when enemy anti-aircraft units appear, then popping up again to fire guns and missiles. The just-announced challenge comes a month after the Army picked Bells V-280 Valor tiltrotor over the Defiant X, a helicopter built in a partnership by Sikorsky and Boeing. A helicopter can be designed to have blades that rotate clockwise or counterclockwise. In 1967 Sikorsky investigated new light-weight dual-hardness aircraft armor. The S-97 will be much faster than conventional helicopters, with a cruising speed of up to 220 knots, or 253 mph, according to Sikorsky. Thirty years later, with advances in the available technologies in the areas of blade construction, shape and airfoil design, vibration control, propulsion system integration, advanced composite material application and fly-by-wire-control system design, Sikorsky went back to the ABC concept in the development on the X-2 high speed aircraft. The Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant concept for the Joint Multi-Role demonstrator, a predecessor to the Future Vertical Lift aircraft. If you want to go faster and further, you need a fundamentally different design. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. Parent type: No type defined Aircraft status: No longer flying . Sikorsky stated working on the concept in 1964. Germanowski refers to that 3D-printed component as a shop aid, which he says allowed us to verify the installation procedure for the gearbox on the actual aircraft. Ultimately, the hub that holds the two top rotorswhich arent shown in these imageswill be forged from titanium. The rigid rotors provided high control power. Though not much is known about the aircraft, FAA documents show the S-100 has two engines, 14 seats and a lift-weight class of 20,000 kg or over. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. Helicopter configurations . Born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1889 to a family of physicians, Igor Sikorsky actually built his first helicopter at the age of 12. Rediscovering the wheel, here? While the Raider X is part of the FARA competition, Sikorskys Defiant X is part of another Army competition called FLRAA, which stands for Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft. Nevertheless, the progress of the VS-300 earned Sikorsky Aircraft a . And lifting payload is a biggie for the mission profile. 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