Last year, and into this new year and beyond, Sikorsky is focusing on its development aircraft.
Key among these models is the S-97 Raider, the company-funded counter-rotating/pusher-prop scout and attack helicopter derived from the company’s X2 Technology Demonstrator. The Raider began test fl ights in May 2015 under a program meant to demonstrate its abilities for armed reconnaissance, light assault, light attack, and special operations. The fl ight test program will continue this year.
“When we fl ew Raider for the fi rst time, we were very pleased with the way the aircraft responded – so much so that the pilots said it felt very much like this aircraft picked up right where the X2 Technology Demonstrator left off ,” said Chris Van Buiten, vice president of Sikorsky Innovations. “This is a game changer in its capabilities to fl y faster, higher, hotter, and quieter. It’s the real deal.”
Sikorsky launched the Raider program fi ve years ago to help mature the X2 Technology rotorcraft confi guration,
which is also being used in the SB>1 Defi ant prototype that Sikorsky is developing with Boeing for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi Role helicopter program. That aircraft is expected to fl y in 2017 and is Sikorsky’s third X2 aircraft in less than 10 years. It should prove the scalability of the X2 design to a 30,000-pound class weight. (The X2 Technology Demonstrator was 6,000 lbs. and the Raider 11,400 lbs.)
The company is also making advances with its Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft (SARA). The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Sikorsky contracts in 2015 for phases I and II of its Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS), which calls for the development and insertion of automation into existing aircraft to ease crew workload. SARA is the test bed for that program. Igor Cherepinsky, Sikorsky’s chief autonomy engineer, has described ALIAS as a “digital copilot” or “autopilot on steroids.” He and his team are building upon the success of Sikorsky’s MATRIX Technology as the basis for ALIAS. MATRIX was developed to give rotary- and fi xed-wing aircraft the high level of system intelligence
needed to
complete complex missions with minimal human oversight. Another of Sikorsky’s standouts in 2015 was the CH-53K King Stallion. This model will more than triple the external load carrying capacity of the CH-53E, thanks to its composite rotor blades, three 7,500 shp/5,590 kW engines, and improved aerodynamics. “It also has a glass cockpit, fl y- by-wire technology, additional survivability, safety, and maintenance improvements,” said Mike Torok, Sikorsky’s vice president of CH-53K programs.
On the civilian side, last year Sikorsky announced the FAA’s certifi cation of a gross weight expansion (GWE) for the S-92 helicopter. The GWE increases the S-92’s maximum takeoff gross weight from 26,500 to 27,700 pounds, allowing operators to carry up to an additional 1,200 pounds of payload. GWE is available as an option on S-92 helicopters that entered production in 2015, and will be retrofi ttable for all S-92 aircraft already in operation. Sikorsky is in the process of obtaining certifi cation for the retrofi t confi guration, expected to be in place by the end of this year.
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Jan/Feb 2016
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