MANASSAS, Va. – The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company believes its Eurocopter experimental high-speed hybrid helicopter X3 is a viable candidate for the Army’s Joint Multi-Role helicopter replacement program.
“Do I believe this has an opportunity to compete in terms of the Joint Multi-Role/Future Vertical Lift when we’re going to try to replace 4,500 aircraft in the (Defense Department),” EADS North America Vice President for Business Development Stephen Mundt asked reporters recently at Manassas Regional Airport in northern Virginia. “I think this can do it. Yes, I see a bright future inside the military.”
EADS North America stopped by the Washington metro area to perform a flight demonstration as it wraps up the final leg of the X3’s United States tour. The X3 was scheduled to continue military flight demonstrations at Fort Belvoir, Va.,’s Davison Army Airfield and will conclude its U.S. tour at the Pentagon.
The Army’s Joint Multi-Role program is to replace the service’s UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook helicopters. In addition to potential use in the Joint Multi-Role program, EADS North America is marketing the X3 as speed-focused technology, packaged in a helicopter, with potential uses across all the services, EADS North America spokesman Tim Paynter said. Sikorsky, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. [UTX] develops the UH-60 while Boeing [BA] manufactures the AH-64 and CH-47.
In addition to its high-speed ability, EADS North America is emphasizing the X3’s agility. EADS North America said the X3 hit a top level flight speed of 269 miles per hour using 80 percent power and is capable of flying 279 mph in descent. X3 is also capable of a climb rate of 5,500 feet per minute. American Eurocopter President and CEO Marc Paganini said X3 is the idea of creating a high-speed, long-range hybrid helicopter that combines a 50 percent increase in speed with a maximum of 25 percent decrease in lifecycle costs while keeping the same ability and handling of a conventional helicopter.
EADS North America says X3’s hybrid technology can be used in military missions such as special forces operations, troop transport, combat search and rescue and medical evacuation, benefiting from the combination of higher cruise speeds with excellent vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) performance, according to a statement.
The X3’s aircraft configuration uses a pair of turboshaft engines to power a five-blade main rotor system, along with two propellors installed on short-span fixed wings. EADS North America says this concept is well-adapted to missions requiring long transit flights where speed is important while retaining vertical lift and hover capabilities at an affordable cost.
The X3 is EADS’ latest effort to show it has more to offer the United States than just its ill-fated KC-X aerial refueling tanker bid, Paganini said. EADS lost that bid to rival Boeing [BA] in 2011.
“As tanker was awarded to our competitor, we have said that was never the only thing that EADS or EADS North America brought to the U.S. and I think what you’re seeing is that playing out in a number of different places,” Mundt said.