S-97 Raider

[aaam]

Sikorsky has rolled out the S-97, their company funded demonstrator of X2 (Advancing Blade Concept) technology. They hope to fly it before the end of the year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... iWlLJm3v9s

[sergei]

contours look very similar to UH-60
and obviously excess number of screws

[basher54321]

Interesting configuration - saw this blogs up already:


http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-27 ... 1641651839

[aaam]

contours look very similar to UH-60
and obviously excess number of screws

I'd say the contours are closer to the S-76, which is closer in size to the Raider. The "people space" contours of the JMR competitors V-280 and SB-1 seem closer to the H-60. Not surprising since they're to perform H-60 type missions carrying H-60 numbers of people.

S-97 is smaller and hoped to be faster and more maneuverable.

[eskodas]

Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER Begins Bladed Ground Runs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdBBwg0_hKg

[geforcerfx]

[sdkf251]

It seems to borrow the tail propeller concept from the old AH-56 Cheyenne. Should be a fast helicopter.

[geforcerfx]

[sferrin]

It seems to borrow the tail propeller concept from the old AH-56 Cheyenne. Should be a fast helicopter.

How do you know they didn't borrow it from the XP-55 Ascender?

[tritonprime]

"A walk around Sikorsky 'Raider,' contender for world’s fastest military copter"
With speed of over 250mph, Raider flies more like a commercial jet, says pilot.
by Sean Gallagher - Oct 13, 2015 2:27pm PDT

Source:
http://arstechnica.com/information-tech ... ry-copter/

[tritonprime]

Published on Oct 8, 2015

The GE YT706 powered Sikorsky RAIDER is designed to revolutionize next generation military aviation. Learn more at http://raider.sikorsky.com/



Too bad that the video was made of the mock-up and not prototype 2.

[tritonprime]

"Sikorsky S-97 Raider reaching for top speeds by 'summer 2016'”
13 October, 2015 BY: James Drew Washington DC

Source:
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/artic ... um-417704/

Sikorsky will conduct a significant amount of ground testing on its S-97 Raider before returning to flight trials, with just 2.2h of a 110h flight test programme clocked since the maiden flight in May.

S-97 chief test pilot Bill Fell says more testing will be done with ground-test rid at Sikorsky’s plant in West Palm Beach, Florida, to build “confidence” in the aircraft’s components ahead of further flights.

Speaking at an Association of the United States Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, Fell says the ground-test rig has already logged 40h of what is expected to be a 200h test run.

By 200h, Fell says the programme will have the “green light” to begin flying an expanded flight envelope. Sikorsky expects to reach top speeds of 220-230kt by next summer (June to August).

Mark Miller, Sikorsky’s vice-president of research and engineering, says the 110-120h flight programme is “robust,” considering the S-97’s forerunner, the X2, flew 23 flights for 23h.

The company has built two S-97 experimental demonstrators as risk-reduction leading into the US Army’s upcoming Future Vertical Lift (FVL) acquisition, and the coaxial-compound, rigid-rotor configuration is the basis for the Boeing-Sikorsky SB-1 Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator.

Miller says Raider has a slightly smaller footprint than the now-retired Bell OH-58 Kiowa Warrior armed aerial scout, and could be put into development for that “FVL Light” requirement.

The fly-by-wire rotorcraft could also be made “optionally unmanned” using Sikorsky’s Matrix autonomous flight technology, which has been demonstrated on the Sikorsky S-76 technology demonstrator aircraft and UH-60 Black Hawk, he says.

“We have provisions for going an optionally-piloted route with this,” says Miller.

Fell, however, says most missions would require a “human in the loop,” particularly the aerial scout role for establishing situational awareness.

The army’s retirement of the Kiowa Warrior was based on the teaming of unmanned surveillance aircraft with the Boeing AH-64 Apache combat helicopter. Some, though, believe that role is better suited to a manned, light-armed helicopter such as the Raider.

“I don’t think you can do that mission fully with an unmanned vehicle,” says Fell, who previously served as a Kiowa Warrior pilot.

[tritonprime]

"Sikorsky’s Raider Should Raise Helicopter Performance"
Jun 15, 2015 Graham Warwick | ShowNews

Source:
http://aviationweek.com/paris-air-show- ... erformance

Sikorsky’s “big bet” on the future of rotorcraft took an important step forward on May 22, when the S-97 Raider high-speed helicopter made its first flight.

With its rigid coaxial rotors and pusher propulsor, Sikorsky believes the Raider and subsequent designs can change the vertical-lift market by offering twice the cruise speed while retaining the low-speed attributes of conventional helicopters. Improved hot-and-high performance, efficiency and maneuverability, and lower noise, vibration and pilot workload will also be benefits.

The aircraft flown on May 22 is the first of two prototypes being built under a $200 million industry effort funded by Sikorsky and its supplier partners. This follows on from the $50 million company-funded X2 Technology Demonstrator, which flew 23 times from 2008-11 and exceeded its speed goal of 250 kt.

On its first flight at Sikorsky’s development flight center in West Palm Beach, the Raider was airborne for an hour, instead of the planned 30 minutes, says Mark Miller, VP of research and engineering. Raider chief pilot Bill Fell and X2 test pilot Kevin Bredenbeck completed three takeoffs and landings, and forward, rearward and sideward flight.

Where the 6,000-lb. gross-weight X2 proved the physics of the rigid coaxial-rotor compound helicopter, Miller says, the production-representative, 11,400-lb. Raiders are intended to show its operational effectiveness through customer demonstrations. They will also reduce risk for the 30,000-lb. SB-1 Defiant Sikorsky is building with Boeing for the U.S. Army’s Joint Multi Role technology demonstration.

Over some 100 hours of flight testing, Aircraft 1 will expand the Raider’s flight envelope with the goal of achieving the program’s key performance parameters (KPP) by mid-2016, says Miller. These include demonstrating hover out of ground effect at mission weight at 6,000 ft. altitude on a 95F day; 220 kt. cruise speed with external weapons; and 3G maneuverability at speed.

Flight testing will be conducted in three phases. Initially the Raider will be flown to 140-150 kt. in pure helicopter mode. Towards the end of Phase 1, software will be upgraded to Block 2, bringing in the variable-pitch propulsor and articulating tail to increase speed and enable the full flight envelope. Phases 1 and 2 will demonstrate the hover KPP carrying the equivalent of six troops and two crew. Phase 2 will focus on demonstrating – and likely exceeding - the speed objective when fitted with stub wings carrying weapons. “Raider is a balanced design optimized for more than 220 kt. fully weaponized, but the inherent speed of the configuration is more than 250 kt.,” says Miller. “That’s 100 kt. faster than anything else.”

Phase 3 will evaluate the maneuverability potential of the rigid coaxial rotor and propulsor. In addition to enabling level-attitude acceleration and deceleration and pushing the helicopter to higher forward speeds, the variable-pitch propeller can be used to produce reverse thrust, enabling the Raider to “hang on the prop” to point sensors and weapons toward the ground.

The second Raider is being assembled and is expected to fly late this year or early in 2016.

[tritonprime]

[tritonprime]