Mindful of opportunities in this market, MD Helicopters is keeping a close eye on military aviation trends. “Customers want to be able to communicate and send data/photos/video feed from the aircraft so data link upload/download capability is a high priority,” said Steve Lapping, the company’s director of military sales. Also, precision-guided munitions (PGMs) including laser-guided rockets are in high demand due to the lower cost of these rockets versus missiles when used for the right type of target.
MD Helicopters
Although perhaps better known for its civil rotorcraft, MD Helicopters has solid entrants in the military light scout attack market with its MD 530F Cayuse Warrior, MD 530F Cayuse Warrior Plus, and MD 969 Armed Twin helicopters.
To meet military program demands, MD Helicopters is focusing its product development efforts on personnel and aircraft survivability, crash-worthy fuel tanks, better and lighter weight ballistic protection, and aircraft survivability equipment. The next big hurdle that needs to be cleared in military helicopter design is “weight versus performance,” Lapping noted. “Every pound added to the aircraft takes away from performance, so all this new equipment is great, but at what cost to performance? We must continue to design better and lighter mission equipment as directed by the end-user customer.”
Sikorsky (a Lockheed Martin company)
The core of Sikorsky’s cutting-edge military helicopter efforts are built around its MATRIX autonomous flight control system. “MATRIX is like a virtual second pilot that will help operators fly safely and confidently in dangerous and complex missions,” said a Sikorsky Innovations spokesperson. “It can leverage full authority flight control inputs for autonomous flight including takeoff, route planning, obstacle avoidance, site selection, and landing. The system allows for zero, one or two pilots to operate an aircraft.”
Along with Bell, the U.S. Army has selected Sikorsky and the Sikorsky-Boeing team to compete in the next phases of its Future Vertical Lift programs. Raider X is Sikorsky’s offering for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (Bell’s entrant is the V-280). Defiant X is the Sikorsky-Boeing solution for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (Bell’s is the 360 Invictus).
“Raider X will fully integrate the strengths of Lockheed Martin (Sikorsky’s parent company) such as digital thread (digital “twins” of physical aircraft systems that mirror wear from flight hours and incidents), advanced manufacturing, sustainment, training, and weapon and mission system development to provide the Army with an integrated weapons system that combines speed, range, maneuverability, survivability, and operational flexibility to execute multi-domain operations,” said the Sikorsky spokesperson. “Defiant X will change the way the Army fights by enabling crews
to fly low and fast through complex terrain, land quickly, deliver soldiers and equipment to the objective area (referred to as “the X”), and get out.” According to the company, Defiant X can fly twice as far and fast as the Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter it is designed to replace.
Sikorsky is harnessing digital design technology to streamline the manufacturing and operational costs of its next-generation military helicopters. “To do this, we are leveraging an established, low-risk manufacturing capability augmented by a more than $600 million investment in digital thread and advanced manufacturing,” the spokesperson said. “Today, all of Sikorsky’s programs are born in a digital environment. The power of this digital thread drives affordability, producibility and reliability across the aircraft lifecycle.
Moreover, we are in an interesting time in history as an industry; there is the potential for a propulsion revolution,” the spokesperson added. “We continue to be a strong believer that electric propulsion can greatly simplify a VTOL vehicle while enhancing its mechanical safety and reliability.”
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