Sikorsky's Raider X Prototype For FARA Over 85% Complete, Also Built
Second Fuselage / Defense Daily
DATE: April 4, 2022
BYLINE: Matthew Beinart
Sikorsky's [LMT] build of its Raider X helicopter for the Army's Future
Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) competitive prototyping (CP) effort is
now over 85 percent complete, with the company also having completed the
build of a second fuselage.
"We're really proud of the progress. We're now at 'weight on wheels,' where
we have the landing gear on the aircraft. We completed landing gear swings,
both deploy and retract with the gear doors installed," Jay Macklin,
Sikorsky's director of Army Future Vertical Lift and innovations strategy
and business development, told reporters at Army Aviation Association of
America annual conference here. "We've also begun powering the aircraft. We
have power on. We're approaching the midpoint of system acceptance test
procedure completion on the aircraft."
Macklin said Sikorsky's Raider X schedule remains on the path to meet the
Army's goal for first FARA CP flight in the third quarter of 2023.
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.
Bell told reporters last month 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 ITEP engine is expected to be completed around the May
timeframe (Defense Daily, March 17).
Both Bell and Sikorsky are set to receive the General Electric Aviation
[GE]-built T901 engine in November, with testing of the first ITEP system
starting last month (Defense Daily, March 24).
Sikorsky noted the second Raider X fuselage, which was also built at
Sikorsky's Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, is being
integrated into its FARA CP structural test program "and will be used to
validate the flight and ground loads capability of the airframe," the
company wrote in a statement.
Macklin added Sikorsky could explore continuing to build out the second
fuselage into a full-on aircraft, while citing the benefits the additional
asset provides for further testing purposes and risk reduction work.
"In other words, we don't have to use just the CP. We've got a second
fuselage where we can do that testing. That's really going to support our
flight and safety test program for the competitive prototype and provide
data that feeds information as we build the CP that's going to fly. It's
another tool that we have to reduce risk," Macklin said. "It also gives us
an option to build it out as a second CP aircraft flying, if we choose to.
It gives us that much more flexibility before we make those decisions as we
go forward."
