What Sikorsky rules out civil helicopter using X2
Anyone hoping for a high-speed civil helicopter featuring Sikorsky’s X2 co-axial compound technology looks set to be disappointed after the manufacturer explicitly ruled out such a development.
Sikorsky first flew its contra-rotating main rotor and tail-mounted pusher prop-equipped X2 technology demonstrator in 2008, eventually achieving a speed of 253 kt (468 km/h) in 2011.
Since then, the air framer has refined the architecture, which it is using on a pair of military rotorcraft – the Defiant X and Raider X – being offered to the US Army as parts of the service’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) initiative.
There had been an expectation that should Sikorsky win either of the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLR AA) or Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FAR A) contests, then it would leverage the volumes involved to spin out a commercial derivative.
However, Sikorsky has explicitly ruled out a civil program 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 conference.
“But the benefit of what that brings in terms of agility is not so important in the commercial space. Speed is nice from an overall 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 tilt wing, rather than tilt rotor architecture is being considered, he says: “It’s conceptual, but we are evaluating it.”
But in contrast to Sikorsky, FVL rival Bell is more open to a commercial application of the rotorcraft it is developing for the FL RAA and FA RA requirements.
Bell is offering the V-280 Valor for FL RAA and Michael Tracker, the air framer’s executive vice-president of innovation and commercial business, says if the tilt rotor 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,”
Tracker 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 FA RA offer is the 360 Invictus – a more conventional helicopter that can still cruise at 180 kt. Tracker suggests that technologies matured through that program might offer a simpler route to the civil market.
Transferring some “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.
However, Sikorsky has explicitly ruled out a civil program 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 conference.
The sixth paragraph of this story has been edited to clarify a quote, removing the inserted word “fuel”.
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