WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Sikorsky’s [LMT] build of its Raider X helicopter for the Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competitive prototyping (CP) effort is now 90 percent complete, with a second fuselage set to start airframe structural testing this month.
During a media visit to Sikorsky’s facility here, company officials also cited the extensive testing with its S-97 Raider technology demonstrator helicopter as feeding critical data collection that is helping ensure Raider X will offer a “lower risk” option for the Army’s FARA competition.
“Every flight that we have, every hour that we put on [S-97] Raider, some piece of engineering data comes off of that aircraft that feeds into the design and answers a question that we had as we’re building [FARA] CP,” Jay Macklin, business development director for Sikorsky Army Programs and Innovations, told reporters during the visit. “Having the S-97 Raider, it’s an 80 percent prototype of what the Raider X is going to be, is another test asset that we have that informs our design to reduce risk on the program.”
S-97 Raider, which utilizes Sikorsky’s X2 technology of counter-rotating rigid rotors and a propulsor system in place of a tail rotor, has been flying since 2015 and directly informed design decisions that went into Raider X.
As of last week, the S-97 Raider had reached 108 flight hours, 503 ground testing hours and 2,850 hours in Sikorsky’s software integration lab, and has achieved a top speed of 205 knots, according to Macklin.
“We really look at it like X2 technology is that single solution for 21st century vertical lift. We know that with FVL the Army is going to be asking pilots of the future to fly in this very dangerous environment in the years 2030 and beyond. We certainly understand that the type of capabilities that are going to be necessary, in other words very low-level, highly maneuverable and high speed flight, are going to be required, what we believe, to ensure the survivability of those crews in the future,” Macklin said.
For FARA, the Army has selected Sikorsky’s Raider X and Bell’s [TXT] 360 Invictus designs for the competitive prototyping phase as it informs its program to field a new scout attack helicopter, with flight testing set to begin next year.
“Now that we’re getting into the test phase of the [FARA] prototype program, I weekly have a cadence with the S-97 team where we discuss what’s going to be flown in a given week and we can collect data that we can immediately use to answer questions [for Raider X]. If we didn’t have the S-97, we’d have to wait another year-plus to be able to apply those data points and to inform our production design. But we’re able to get answers to our questions today which, from an engineering point of view, gives me a little more certainty in terms of what I’m designing and allows us to make more informed decisions and choices earlier in the process,” Pete Germanowski, Sikorsky’s chief engineer for FARA, told reporters.
Germanowski said having the S-97 as a test asset likely saved months in the Raider X design schedule, adding that lessons learned applied to the FARA prototype “span everything from aerodynamics and propulsion system integration to software and airframe structural arrangement.”
Along with the Raider X prototype now being 90 percent completely built out, Sikorsky now also has 98 percent of parts on hand, has completed more than 50 percent of acceptance test procedures and has 3D printed replica versions of the Modular Effects Launcher and new 20mm gun for FARA to do a fit check on the aircraft.
“The majority of the subsystems are installed on the aircraft and they’re currently being tested for functionality. There’s a couple of drive system components that are in sub-assembly in [at Sikorsky’s Stratford,] Connecticut [facility] that will be brought down later this year,” Germanowski said.
Bell told reporters in March its build of the 360 Invictus for FARA CP was also over 80 percent complete, and that the build structure of the helicopter minus the aircraft’s engine is expected to be completed around the May timeframe (Defense Daily, March 17).
Both Sikorsky and Bell must still receive the General Electric Aviation [GE]-built T901 engine, out of the Army’s Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), to complete their FARA prototypes, with deliveries slated for November (Defense Daily, April 4).
Sikorsky’s second Raider X fuselage is currently at a supplier’s facility in Long Island where it will start structural testing, with Macklin and Germanowski noting the company is keeping the option of potentially building it out as a complete aircraft.
“We’ll clear the aircraft for flight by doing the structural testing on the second fuselage. And the second piece of information we get that’s really timely is we’ll have those test results as we’re doing the preliminary design of our production variant [for FARA],” Germanowski said. “If we want to build it out to be a second complete flying asset, we have that flexibility.”
For the Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program, to find a Black Hawk replacement, Sikorsky has teamed with Boeing [BA] to offer the Defiant X platform and is competing against Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor platform, with the Army set to select a winner for production by this September.
As the Army is approaching major milestones for its Future Vertical Lift (FVL) competitions, Sikorsky officials told reporters in May the company is already prepared to manufacture the next-generation helicopter fleet at its Stratford, Connecticut facility with its investment in advanced machining and “digital thread” technologies for current production lines (Defense Daily, May 9).