DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Sikorsky To Build Superfast, Military-Grade S-97 RAIDER™ Helicopter

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Sikorsky To Build Superfast, Military-Grade S-97 RAIDER™ Helicopter

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Sikorsky Helicopters + Popular Mechanics
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - October 26, 2012: In 2009 Sikorsky Aircraft built the world’s fastest helicopter, the X2, which clocked in at nearly 287 miles per hour and earned a PM Breakthrough Award to boot. Since then, the company has been incorporating the technology into designs for a new helo—the Raider S-97—which it plans to offer it to the U.S. Army in 2015. 

Like the X2 Demonstrator, the S-97 will use a coaxial rotor system. Its two rotors spin in opposite directions to stabilize the helicopter at high speeds, allowing it travel twice as fast as conventional helos. The S-97 will be twice as large as the X2, weighing in at 11,000 pounds, and capable of climbing up to 10,000 feet. 

Sikorsky spokesperson Frans Jurgens told PM the S-97 would be able to hover with its nose pointed high or low without sliding backward or forward. "So it will have the ability to pirouette while keeping guns on-target," Jurgens says. "These are the kinds of maneuvers that only the X2 aircraft can achieve." The company plans to build the first two S-97 prototypes next summer and expects to get them off the ground beginning in late 2014. 

Sivorsky has proposed the S-97 as a replacement for the Army’s aging fleet of OH-58 Kiowa Warriors. But the company will have its share of competition, and those competitors have already built their aircraft, while Sikorsky’s S-97 remains a design. Still, Jurgens is confident, arguing that none of the rivals build anything as revolutionary as the S-97. "With X2 technology, you can go twice as fast and twice as high," Jurgens says. "Current scouts can fly over only 40 percent of Afghanistan, because the land is so mountainous. The X2 can cover 97 percent." 

In December the Army will decide whether to upgrade the existing Kiowa fleet or to launch an Armed Aerial Scout competition to find a replacement. 
Read more: Sikorsky to Build Superfast, Military-Grade Helo - Popular Mechanics 

Sikorsky Announces Supplier Team for S-97 RAIDER™ Helicopter Program

  WASHINGTON, Maryland - Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX), has selected 35 companies to join its team assembling two prototype S-97 RAIDER™ helicopters for evaluation by the U.S. military. Self-funded by Sikorsky and its team members, the RAIDER program will demonstrate the military applications of Sikorsky’s break-through X2™ rotorcraft design, which proved its capability in 2010 to double the cruise speed of conventional helicopters.

Sikorsky announced its supplier team during the Association of the United States Army’s ILW Aviation Symposium and Exposition, National Harbor, Md.

“As designer and integrator of a next-generation light tactical helicopter capable of outperforming conventional helicopters in almost every performance parameter, it was imperative we chose our suppliers for the maturity of their advanced aerospace products and technologies,” said Doug Shidler, Sikorsky’s RAIDER program manager. “Product maturity will enable Sikorsky to demonstrate the RAIDER helicopter’s flight and aerodynamic performance in a simulated military environment starting in 2014, and ultimately bring X2-designed helicopters to future customers quickly and at a very affordable price.”

The majority of the RAIDER team members are U.S.-based companies from 20 states.

Structures: Aurora (Va., Miss.); Cytec (Calif., N.Y.); East/West Industries (N.Y.); Fischer (Germany); Hexcel (Conn., Utah); PPG (Calif.); Triumph Group (Wash.).

Avionics: Avionics Instruments (N.J.); BAE Systems (N.Y.); Eaton (Miss.); Esterline Control Systems (Calif., Ill., Wash.); Garmin (Kan.); Goodrich (Fla., Minn.); Hamilton Sundstrand (Conn.); Honeywell (Ariz.); Lockheed Martin (N.Y.); Northrop Grumman (Calif.).

Propulsion: Ametek (N.Y.); Ducommun (N.Y.); Eaton (Mich.); General Electric (Mass.); Honeywell (Ariz.); Liquid Measurement Systems (Vt.); Meggitt-USA (Ga., Calif.); Spectrum (Conn.); TIGHITCO (Conn.).

Rotors and transmission: Emerson-McGill (Ind.); Fatigue Technology (Wash.); FAG Canada; Goodrich (N.Y.); Hamilton Sundstrand (Conn., Ill.); Kamatics (Conn.); LORD Corp. (Pa.); Pankl Aerospace (Calif.); Parker Aerospace (Calif., Ga.); Schultz (Calif.); SIFCO (Ohio); Triumph Group (Utah, Mich.).

Blades: Cytec (Calif., N.Y.);Eagle Aviation Technologies (Va.); Hexcel (Conn., Utah); Rotating Composites (Conn.).

The RAIDER aircraft program follows Sikorsky’s successful X2 TECHNOLOGY™ demonstrator helicopter, which in September 2010 achieved more than 250 knots (287 mph) flight speed, or twice the average cruise speed of a conventional helicopter. The National Aeronautic Association awarded Sikorsky the 2010 Robert J. Collier Trophy for the achievement, and for its potential as a future rotorcraft technology.

Sikorsky will invest about 75 percent of the RAIDER program’s expected cost, with suppliers investing about 25 percent.

Like the X2 demonstrator aircraft, the single engine S-97 RAIDER helicopter will feature coaxial counter-rotating main rotors and a pusher propeller to provide cruise speeds up to 220 knots (253 mph) with dash speeds up to 240 knots (276 mph) or higher.

“We anticipate these S-97 RAIDER prototypes will provide dramatic improvements over conventional helicopters in maneuverability, range, endurance, altitude and hover efficiency — in addition to speed,” said Chris Van Buiten, Vice President of Sikorsky Innovations, the advanced engineering and development division of Sikorsky Aircraft that has pioneered the X2 design. “These attributes of the RAIDER aircraft could very well change the way the U.S. military fights with helicopters.”

While the RAIDER aircraft will showcase the X2 design’s considerable airframe and flight characteristics, its configuration as a light tactical helicopter will enable Sikorsky to offer the aircraft as a candidate for the U.S. Army’s Armed Aerial Scout helicopter competition. The U.S. Army is seeking a new aircraft to replace the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter.

With a maximum gross weight of approximately 11,000 lbs, the RAIDER helicopter will offer full operational performance at speeds and altitudes more than twice the capability of today’s light tactical helicopters.

The Raider cockpit will feature side-by-side seating for two pilots. For armed reconnaissance and light attack missions, the aircraft can host a variety of sensors and externally-mounted weapons, with the flexibility to carry additional fuel and ammunition for extended missions. In a light utility or special operations configuration, the helicopter cabin will carry up to six troops.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., based in Stratford, Conn., is a world leader in aircraft design, manufacture and service. United Technologies Corp., based in Hartford, Conn., provides a broad range of high-technology products and support services to the aerospace and building systems industries.

This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning opportunities for development, production and sale of helicopters. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to changes in government procurement priorities and practices, budget plans, availability of funding and in the type and number of aircraft required; challenges in the design, development, production and support of advanced technologies; as well as other risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those detailed from time to time in United Technologies Corporation’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Sikorsky Helicopters + Popular Mechanics
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