In the mid-1960s many companies in the helicopter industry were investigating technologies to expand the speed envelope of the helicopter. Elevators were included in the tail. The X2 demonstrator will feature a coaxial design (two rotors on . Spice up your small talk with the latest tech news, products and reviews. Now Sikorsky Aircraft has put that experimental technology into a more mature package, the S-97 Raider. 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. Two three-blade intermeshing contra-rotating tandem rotors, fully-articulated, all bearings submerged in oil. Pitch change was accomplished with conventional stack bearings. Nevertheless, the progress of the VS-300 earned Sikorsky Aircraft a . The V-280 has the same size rotors as the V-22 but weighs half as much, Gehler said, giving it 50 percent more control power than a V-22 at low speeds, superior to the present-day Black Hawk and Apache. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. Another huge measure of potential stealth for the aircraft likely resides in its ability to manage aheat signatureas well, something about which there may be little information available. : The Future Vertical Lift program aims to create revolutionary replacements for todays military helicopters. - four smaller disks have a smaller effective lifting area than a single large disk, all things being equal. Published Jun 30, 2022 3:03 PM EDT. There were many coaxial helicopter developments during and after World War II. 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.. Rotor cyclic flaring is an important feature and attribute necessary for autorotation. However, when the pilots moved out of hover to transition to forward flight, the aircraft tended to nose up. Retreating blade stall can be delayed or lessened in case of coaxial helicopter configurations. 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. in large part because of the two counter-rotating rotors. With faster speeds, you get less lift capacity unless you want to pay more. The coaxial design is uncommon, but not unprecedented -- it's long been a distinguishing characteristic of helicopters from Russian manufacturer Kamov. K-MAX Capabilities Unmatched Precision Unmatched Precision Unmatched Versatility Unmatched Versatility On the ground, the top rotors can be folded back, allowing it to be stored and transported easily. And civilian uses are already being considered. Sikorsky's 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.. In late May, Sikorsky first turned on power to its S-97 prototype, which at the time was about halfway through assembly. The ABC had the additional advantages of not requiring a tail rotor, and a design where the control swashplates for the two rotors were buried below the rotors, both further reducing the vulnerable area of the aircraft against ballistic threats. Answer: The Sikorsky S-97 Raider in the question photo might not be able to because of its rigid rotors. At the aircrafts nose is a simulated weapona 3D-printed substitute for the actual 20mm cannon that would someday hang from under the aircraft in the same spot. 2023 CNET, a Red Ventures company. Flight testing with the second aircraft resumed in November, 1974. 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. Sikorsky?sX2 Technology Demonstrator incorporates leading-edge aerospace technologies,including digital fly-by-wire flight controls, counter-rotating rigid rotorblades that spin more slowly as the helicopter reaches higher cruising speeds,active vibration control, an integrated auxiliary propulsion system, and more. There could be no flapping hinges; the rotors would have to be very stiff so that the rotors center of lift could migrate off the rotor centerline. The aircraft build is 90-percent complete, says Pete Germanowski, the chief engineer on the FARA program at Sikorsky. A 40 ft. diameter test rotor was fabricated in 1970 and tested in the NASA Ames 40 x 80 ft. wind tunnel. They will be coming soon I'd imagine fb. "Experimentalaircraft have minds of their own ? 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The retreating blades are going slower relative to the air, because they subtract the helicopters speed from their own, so they generate less lift. In 1972 Sikorsky designed the S-69 for the US Army, gaining a contract for two XH-59A prototypes to evaluate an Advancing Blade Concept (ABC) rotor system comprising two counter-rotating three-bladed rigid main rotors, with a 1361kW Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6T-3 Turbo Twin Pac to power them; the S . Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation: Counter-rotating rotor system with stationary standpipe US20150139799A1 (en) * 2013-11-15: 2015-05-21: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation . The Marine Corps is more than receptive to radically new rotorcraft. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. When all's said and done, the privately funded S-97 program will cost Sikorsky and its partners $200 million (75 percent from Sikorsky itself) for the construction and testing of two prototypes, the first of which was on display Thursday. When its moving forward at high speed, however, the engine puts 90 percent of its energy into the rear propeller to generate forward thrust, much like a conventional propeller aircraft. 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 If you want to go faster and further, you need a fundamentally different design. 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. It was a small toy powered by rubber bands, but it would turn out to be his life's work. The CH-53K Test Flight team has our most experienced and seasoned engineers, pilots, maintainers and support staff. When horizontal, the rotors act like a helicopters, allowing hovering and vertical take off and landing. Rival contractors Bell and Sikorsky (part of Lockheed Martin) both say they have transcended those limits to build dramatically faster rotorcraft, but they have taken very different paths. Helicopters dont really fly, they just beat the air into submission. Sikorsky would attend schools in Paris and Ukraine, studying the sciences. This seemed to work out fine in the initial hover tests. 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. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University. Contact the author here. 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. Presented at the 64th AHS Annual Forum, Montreal, Canada, April 29 May 1, 2008. These will be effective at getting injured people out of remote areas quicker and also, the ability to possibly commute further without having to go through a transit hub. Sikorsky hopes the X2 will fly nearly twice as fast as today's helicopters. "Certainlycivilian travel appears to be a promising market. Primarily among these was the use of separate engines for rotor power and auxiliary propulsion. This used two very rigid counter-rotating rotors, allowing rotor lift at high speeds to migrate off the rotor centerline to the advancing sides of the rotor discs, thus eliminating retreating blade stall which limits the speed of conventional helicopters. (Move too slowly and you stall, potentially falling out of the sky). Two P&WA PT-6 engines were used to power the rotors. Sikorsky's helicopters featured a sophisticated design which outperformed other manufacturers. It never went beyond the concept stage. 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. June 6, 2005 Sikorsky Aircraft today announced plans to build and test a demonstrator for a new class of coaxial X2 Technology helicopters that maintain or improve on all the vertical flight capabilities of rotorcraft and whose high speed configuration will cruise at 250 knots. The development of the next-generation rotary wing technology allowed Sikorsky to select suppliers for the high speed X2 prototype aircraft intended for flight test and evaluation by the US Army. ?The X2Technology Demonstrator is an integrated suite of technologies intended toadvance the state-of-the-art, counter-rotating coaxial rotor helicopter. And ABC promised improved maneuverability over conventional helicopters. The hubs spin in opposite directions, whicheliminates the torque effect. The aircraft was designed to fly with or without the auxiliary propulsion J-60s installed. Two images of Raider X in a hangar in West Palm Beach, Florida, shared recently by Sikorsky, reveal how the companys prototype is coming together. It's not an idle promise. 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. The main fuselage of the AARV was to be constructed from half-inch thick dual hardness armor. advance ratios, the potential for greater tion for applications of HHC to a counter-interharmonic coupling exists, rotating aircraft at very high speed in the 12000 ib range of gross weight. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service. Compared to conventional helicopters, the counter-rotating coaxial setup and pusher propeller offer a significant speed increase, a 60 percent . But in this configuration and design - they are. Sikorsky Aircraft (now owned by Lockheed Martin) was founded in 1923 and has created helicopters for civilian and military use since 1939. Join PopSci+ to read sciences greatest stories. Source: Sikorsky 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. Sikorsky was unique in devoting his efforts to . +1 (800) WINGED-S (946-4337) The purpose of the aft blades is to provide acounterforce to the torque effect on the fuselage created by the spinning maindisc. 1939: Igor Ivanovitch Sikorsky built the helicopter VS-300 which flew in May 13, 1940. Sikorsky was unique in devoting his efforts to the single-rotor philosophy, which he erroneously believed he had originated. This can get so unbalanced that it threatens to tip the helicopter over altogether if you don't stay beneath a defined maximum airspeed. Rob Verger is the Technology Editor at Popular Science, where he leads a team of journalists who cover everything from transportation and the military to artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Prayer, revival and Jesus Revolution: Is our rotting culture on verge of something big? And while the two companies are going head-to-head in the FARA program, with the Raider X pitted against the 360 Invictus, they are also competing in the aforementioned FLRAA program, with the Defiant X up against the V-280 Valor. The Air Force and Navy are also buying small numbers of V-22s. SikorskyAircraft, has been consulting with helicopter operators to determine how X2Technology aircraft would benefit their business at a price they can afford. Learn More. Some balance is needed in order to keep the machine stable usually either another, counter-rotating rotor or a small vertically-mounted tail rotor. In effect, he said, "the rotor . For example, the12-passenger S-76 helicopter flies at 178 mph, but an 11-seat BeechcraftKingAir 350 turboprop flies at 350 mph, nearly twice as fast. Built in Connecticut, the Sikorsky CH-53K is the latest in the Companys proud helicopter legacy. Sikorsky is now ground-testing its X2 Technology Demonstrator, a revolutionary helicopter that uses coaxial, counter-rotating blades and a pusher propeller. ?This couldbe a ?game changer? The rotors are articulated and their blades are rigid. At low speeds, the difference between the advancing and retreating blades is negligible. (Source: US Air Force.) While its unclear when the Army will make a decision as to which aircraft it wants to go with for the FARA program, the FLRAA competition is further along. 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. A maximum level flight speed of 240 knots was achieved, making this the first rotary wing aircraft to achieve this speed without the use of an auxiliary wing, thus proving the basic advancing blade concept. X2Technology helicopters will affect passenger travel due to substantiallyreduced flight times. 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. Whichever helicopter becomes the Armys choice for the FARA role will be powered by a single engine, which is General Electrics T901. - 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. The same design approach was also considered for a larger AAPC, Aerial Armored Personnel Carrier, carrying twelve troops within the armored fuselage. 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. +1 (202) 740-5997 The Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 DEFIANT helicopter achieved first flight March 21, 2019. The rotor diameter was therefore reduced to 36 ft. Blade construction was similar to that of the wind tunnel rotor. (203) 386-6086Fax: (203) 386-7300Web site: . 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. 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). Presented at the 60th AHS Annual Forum, Baltimore, MD, June, 2004. However,the new Sikorsky aircraft will have one or more aft-mounted ?pusher? 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. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. In a separate project, Sikorsky is working with Boeing on an X2-based helicopter called the SB-1 Defiant in a precursor program to the the Army-led Future Vertical Lift initiative, which aims to find a next-generation medium-lift helicopter for use across all the military branches. The counter-rotating blade is basedupon innovative engineering methods that combines airplane-like speeds with the hovering and maneuvering capabilities unique to helicopters. The fastest Army helicopter in widespread service, the CH-47F Chinook, maxes out at about 170 knots, which is 195 miles per hour, and has an effective reach (mission radius) of 200 nautical miles, or 230 statute miles. Sign up to receive Popular Science's emails and get the highlights. Our Multi-Domain Operations/Joint All-Domain Operations solutions provide a complete picture of the battlespace and empowers warfighters to quickly make decisions that drive action. Contour flight handling qualities revealed the XH-59A is capable of crossing terrain in high speed (215 knots) contour flight, thus reducing the reaction time available to the enemy targets and defenses. Kamov has been making dual contrarotating rotor helicopters since the 1940-s. The six-passenger bird will be developed for the military and will. Kris Osborn is Defense Editor for theNational Interest. Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use / Privacy Policy / Manage Newsletters, - We are flying before buying.. For example, flights between Bridgeport, Conn. and JFK Airport in New York City would be decreased from 40 minutes to 25 minutes.Also, X2 Technology medevachelicopters would be able to transport people in critical condition tohospitals in significantly less time, potentially saving lives. Lockheed Martin delivered the first CH-53K training device to the U.S. Navy on April 14, 2020. Designed to help the U.S. and allies leverage emerging technologies to create a resilient multi-domain network. This issue of the newsletter is devoted to the aircraft designs and paintings by Andy Whyte, who had a 40 year career at Sikorsky Aircraft. Timeline of the Sikorsky Aircraft Company. [Related: Tilting rotors could help make Bells speedy new aircraft the next Black Hawk], It looks similar to Defiant, says Germanowski, referring to the Raider X. Bell V-280 Valor Joint Multi-Role Demonstrator (CGI graphic). 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. Design studies showed that four-bladed rotors would dramatically reduce the rotors vibratory characteristics. This human and technical feat has given rise to a family of aircraft that have been entered into the history of aviation. How many satellites can we safely fit in Earth orbit? Sikorsky stated working on the concept in 1964. Take a look at the concept video below, or click through for a larger look at the photos released today. First look at ultra-fast Sikorsky/Boeing SB>1 Defiant dual-rotor helicopter, The Sikorsky/Boeing SB>1 Defiant is our first look at the Future Vertical Lift project that will enter US Army service in the 2030s, With counter-rotating blades at the top, the SB>1 Defiant blasts through the helicopter speed limit imposed by retreating blade stall on single-rotor helicopters, Sikorsky - Boeing Future Vertical Lift: The Way Forward. A compound helicopter has no wings and two separate sets of blades, a rotor that stays a rotor and a propeller that stays a propeller. 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. The first was a two place reconnaissance vehicle, the AARV Aerial Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle proposed as a follow-on to the Armys light observation helicopters then in production, the Hughes OH-6A and the Bell OH-58A. We have invested in developing and demonstrating hypersonic technology for over 30 years. That required changing how the rotors flap, improving materials, and, above all, increasing the size of the rotors relative to the aircraft. The SB>1 Defiant uses a pusher prop at the rear, along with active rudders and elevators. At higher speeds, the rear prop provides extra drive and the rudders and elevators help with high speed maneuvering. Sikorsky has released new shots of its Raider X prototype aircraft sporting modular weapon launchers loaded with Hellfire missiles and a 20mm main gun. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, today delivered its 5,000th "Hawk" variant helicopter, a U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk. Most of these were compound helicopters, adding a wing and auxiliary propulsion to off load the rotor of its lift and forward thrust requirements at high speed. What's even more unusual element is the pusher rotor at the rear. Aircraft #1 was rebuilt for wind tunnel testing, but was not returned to flight status. . The V-280, by contrast looks purely like a Marine design, Aboulafia said. If this scout helicopter sounds similar in design to another from Sikorsky, thats because it is. Last month, the Army saw its final class of eight aviators complete Kiowa flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Concurrently, Sikorsky was in the early stages of developing the Advancing Blade Concept (ABC) for extending the speed range of helicopters. However, in 2011, the company laid off 400 employees at the Hawk Works plant and 570 more in 2012. Remember, rotors rotate. Yaw control was achieved by using differential collective pitch in hover. without using the mechanicallycomplex and expensive tilt-rotorsystem pioneered by Bell. The program did not progress beyond these conceptual efforts. | They will likely sell it in the commercial market as well. Other American helicopter pioneers like Larry Bell, Stanley Hiller, and Frank Piasecki subsequently employed this convention. Want CNET to notify you of price drops and the latest stories? The first flight for that program is expected in 2017. Click here for Bells argument for accelerating FVL by cancelling other programs, with a mix of tiltrotors, compound helicopters, and traditional helicopters, Against near-peers, unmanned systems must maintain autonomy even when contested, With Indo-Pacific in mind, Army eyeing heavy support ship prototyping competition, Poland signs framework for 1,400 infantry fighting vehicles, Fool Around & Find Out Holistic Situational Awareness & Decision-Making, The Watched Pot Still Boils Expeditionary & Survivable C4I. The S-97 prototypes, Sikorsky has said, will go beyond the X2 aircraft in several ways, demonstrating precision maneuvers in low flight speed, high G turning maneuvers at over 200 knots, and hot-day hover performance at altitudes up to 10,000 feet. Lockheed Sikorsky-Boeings SB Defiant has taken flight more recently than Textron-Bells 280 Valor, however both appear to be showing early promise. It's not every day you see a helicopter that looks like this. At this time, the effort was on developing the concept with no specific mission identified. A high cost item at the time was the monolithic titanium blade spars. We are testing the limitsand pioneering this exciting innovation.". When the job is hot, high, dirty or dangerous, the K-MAX is ready performing multiple missions. The helicopter has a small rotor at the end of a tail boom (Sikorsky) Or a fan instead of the propellor (Fenestron Aerospatiale) Or a jet thrust output (Cierva W.9, NOTAR) 4. 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 . But all of these were two conventional rotors mounted in a coaxial counter-rotational configuration. Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com. It also required titanium rather than aluminum to get the strength and modulus necessary for a practical blade design. 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Our Terms of Service will fly nearly twice as fast as today 's helicopters tech. No specific mission identified eight aviators complete Kiowa flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama reduced.