Being a CT native I feel for Sikorsky but I think the tilt-rotor option had several things in its favor and their inevitable protest was ultimately doomed. I hope that perhaps they can interest some of our international allies in some form of the Defiant but time will tell.
The Raider-X still...
Italy is already the European leader in tilt rotor. By jumping on the coaxial compound wagon, Italy has access to two of the three leading high speed rotorcraft technological means so far explored.
The US Army has been working on developing a very large advanced transport rotorcraft under the program name JHL (Joint Heavy Lift). Sikorsky proposed two X2 technology variants, both of which were rejected (understandable since they haven't yet been able to get a demonstrator in the air and...
I don't think there has been that much prejudice against the Tilt-Wing, it's been studied and concepts proposed for years (Boeing's proposal for the AAFSS which became AH-56 was a Tilt-Wing). Tilt-Rotor turned out to be more successful and a better fit so far.
I suspect the higher disk...
S-97 may get a boost out of talked about plan changes at Army.
Although the S-97 was aimed at the AAS program, I think there was very little chance of it being selected. This is primarily because it isn't scheduled to fly until the end of 2014 and Army's announced date for downselect for AAS...
The JMR and FVL-Medium programs aren't experimental or research rotorcraft programs. The intention is to replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk in the United States Army and U.S. Special Operation Command inventory with a new rotorcraft with additional speed and range. So I don't understand why...
Will there be similar issues with the Bell V-280 Valor? I imagine that the Johnson-McConnell agreement of 1966 did not foresee tilt-rotor aircraft. Could the United States Air Force object to the V-280 Valor as a fixed-wing tactical aircraft with VTOL? Whereas the Sikorsky/Boeing SB-1 Defiant...
Because the AVX proposal for JMR-TD uses the most conservative rotor system of all the bidders. They are offering a conventional coax rotor with horizontal propulsion. Bell are offing a tilt prop, fixed engine and Sikorsky/Boeing a rigid rotor coax. Helicopters are all about their rotor system...
Stargazer, My apologies if I overstated.
While I doubt as much as anyone right now that Bell is actively in pursuit of civil tilt rotor technology, I cannot imagine them conceding the future civil market to Sikorsky (X2), nor Airbus (X3), if they bring their technologies to fruition. If...
Not sure I understand this response. The original Advancing Blade Demonstrator of 25 years ago gave poor performance and did not meet its promises. The X2 revision of the technology has never flown and doesn't really show where it would have any benefit relative to Tilt-Rotor to justify the...
Lauren Thompson is a paid industry lobbyist. His article basically says that the FVL selection decision is too important to leave to the Army, and that Congress should make sure that each major manufacturer gets a share of the pie, no matter their designs’ merits or flaws.
By implication FLRAA...
I think that the Sikorsky will get the X-2 (ABC) working satisfactorily in the coming years toward being a very viable rotorcraft. It is just not ready for prime time in the larger size just now. Honestly, I think if Sikorsky had five more years to work out the details for the larger FVL they...
The CL-84, Osprey and V-280 show three possible ways of turning a C-130 into a VTOL
- tilt the wing with the four engines attached to it
- tilt the engines and propellers only
- tilt only the propellers
In the case of four engine aircraft however it is far more complicated, for the simple...
I doubt there will be a one-for-one exchange. There have been rumblings within the Army that whatever they buy, it would be obsolete by the time they finished a one-for-one replacement. I expect the buy to be ~500ish and the Army will try for even better capability in ten years. Perhaps sans...
High-res of that image from the LM Website.
Funnily, the S-76 successor is marked as N961X (a number that used to belong to a Grumman AgCat). Possibly they have that model penciled in as the S-96? (The Raider S-97s were N971SK and N972SK, so there's something of a pattern there.)
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