Army gets first look at Sikorsky Raider
For the first time, U.S. Army staff has gotten a look this week at the Sikorsky S-97 Raider helicopter in flight, one of two initial prototypes of a new generation of aircraft the Stratford manufacturer hopes will become the backbone of the U.S. military for decades.
Sikorsky and parent company Lockheed Martin are proposing a refined version of the aircraft called Raider X as the replacement for the Bell OH-58 Kiowa helicopter, which has been used for scout missions dating back to the Vietnam War.
With a stacked set of rotors that revolve in opposite directions, the Raider is similar in design to the Defiant X prototype that Sikorsky is developing as the military’s next utility helicopter to replace the current fleet of Sikorsky Black Hawks and Seahawk maritime helicopters.
Bell, a subsidiary of Providence, R.I.-based Textron, is also in the running for the armed scout helicopter the U.S. Army wants as a replacement for the Kiowa. Bell has yet to complete assembly of its initial Bell Invictus prototype, which will resemble conventional helicopters with a single set of rotor blades.
As a potential Black Hawk replacement, Bell is separately developing the V-280 Valor, which builds on the tilt-rotor technology the Texas manufacturer pioneered alongside Boeing with the V-22 Osprey used by the U.S. Marine Corps. Like the Osprey, the Valor has two rotor sets mounted on wings that lift the aircraft vertically, then swivel to propel it forward.
Sikorsky test pilots Christiaan Corry and Bill Fell took the S-97 through the paces this week in Alabama, with Lockheed Martin posting video snippets of the flight on Vimeo.
In a written statement released by Lockheed Martin, Corry highlighted the helicopter’s rear-mounted “pusher prop” that propels the aircraft to higher speeds than a conventional helicopter can achieve.
“In low-speed flight we are as capable as a conventional helicopter, but when we engage the prop, we are able to operate in a whole new way,” Corry was quoted saying. “It’s much more like flying an airplane.”
The winner of the Army’s Future Vertical Lift competition will be set up for decades of steady work, as the case with Sikorsky when the Black Hawk emerged as the Pentagon’s choice in the early 1970s. The company had jut over 8,400 employees in Connecticut at last report.
Sikorsky is partnering with Boeing on the bid, with the companies having yet to specify whether manufacturing would be centered at Sikorsky’s Stratford plant or split both there and at Boeing helicopter factories in Pennsylvania, Arizona or elsewhere.
The Department of Defense does not expect full-production orders for the new generation of vertical-lift aircraft for another decade.
Sikorsky is already set up for an extended run in Stratford producing as many as
200 CH-53K King Stallion helicopters for the Marines’ a fleet of V-97 Marine One helicopters for the White House; and more than 110 HH-60W Jolly Green II combat rescue helicopters for the Air Force which completed developmental testing in Florida this week, nearly two years after flying for the first time.
Last week, the White House released President Biden’s overarching priorities for a $715 billion DOD budget he will seek for the 2022 fiscal year, but has yet to detail dollar amounts it will earmark for specific programs.
In January, Lockheed Martin installed Paul Lemmo as Sikorsky president replacing Dan Schultz, with Lemmo previously general manager of a Lockheed Martin division that develops radar, sonar, sensors and other advanced military technologies.
Sikorsky’s work on coaxial rotor design dates back to its days as a division of United Technologies, which sold Sikorsky to Lockheed Martin in 2016 then merged itself last year with Raytheon.
UTC funded the early development without government assistance, with Sikorsky successfully flying the Raider’s predecessor X2 helicopter for the first time in 2010. The National Aeronautical Association awarded Sikorsky its Robert J. Collier Prize as the top technical achievement in flight that year. No helicopter has won the prize since.