Here’s a few quotes from the article. Translation: “X2 is a technological dead end, and even tilt rotors are too expensive for commercial applications”.
[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.flightglobal.com/helicopters/sikorsky-rules-out-civil-helicopter-using-x2-technology/147908.article[/URL]
Sikorsky:
There had been an expectation that should Sikorsky win either of the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) or Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) contests then it would leverage the volumes involved to spin out a commercial derivative.
However, Sikorsky has explicitly ruled out a civil programme incorporating the X2 configuration. “We initially thought we would have to apply that to everything,” said Jason Lambert, vice-president of global military and commercial systems, speaking at the recent Heli-Expo conference.
“But the benefit of what that brings in terms of agility is not so important in the commercial space. Speed is nice but from an overall [fuel] efficiency perspective we don’t think it’s the right thing for commercial.”
Lambert says the future for the commercial portfolio is likely to see the application of hybrid-electric propulsion and increased levels of autonomy: “We are modelling it now.”
An aircraft of a similar size to the 13-passenger S-76 helicopter using a tiltwing, rather than tiltrotor architecture is being consider, he says: “It’s conceptual, but we are evaluating it.”
Bell:
Bell is offering the V-280 Valor for FLRAA and Michael Thacker, the airframer’s executive vice-president of innovation and commercial business, says if the tiltrotor is selected it would “consider commercial variants”.
“But is there a clear business case for that today? Probably not. But we are certainly open to the idea – we have certainly seen interest in that concept from a commercial perspective,” said Thacker at Heli-Expo.
Thacker stresses, however, that until the V-280 is picked by the US military “it is too soon to really contemplate what that [civil helicopter] would be”.
Meanwhile, Bell’s FARA offer is the 360 Invictus – a more conventional helicopter that can still cruise at 180kt. Thacker suggests that technologies matured through that programme might offer a simpler route to the civil market.
Transferring some the “learnings” or systems developed from the Invictus into a commercial product “is nearer to shore than the commercial application of a V-280”, he says.
