Helis, January 19, 2020 - The Sikorsky/Boeing SB1>Defiant counter-rotating coaxial helicopter exceeded 100 Knots for the first time on January 13.
Defiant, which also has a pusher propeller, continues to expand its flight envelope through sorties each week most recently exceeding 100 knots and performing maneuvers at 30-degrees angle of bank at the Sikorsky Development Flight Test Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
First flew in March 2019, Defiant’s flight tests were briefly suspended after a problem was found with the main rotor gearbox on the ground test-bed but by December it had reached 20 knots in all directions and is planned to continue in 40-knot increments out to at least 250 knots.
The SB>1 Defiant has the same configuration as the smaller experimental aircraft S-97 Raider and is one of two demonstrators flying as part of the US Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) program, which is meant to led to a new model for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition to replace the Black Hawk by 2030.
The other demonstrator is the Bell’s V-280 Valor tilt-rotor which has been flying for more than two years and completed a series of autonomous test flights last December.
Defiant, which also has a pusher propeller, continues to expand its flight envelope through sorties each week most recently exceeding 100 knots and performing maneuvers at 30-degrees angle of bank at the Sikorsky Development Flight Test Center in West Palm Beach, Florida.
First flew in March 2019, Defiant’s flight tests were briefly suspended after a problem was found with the main rotor gearbox on the ground test-bed but by December it had reached 20 knots in all directions and is planned to continue in 40-knot increments out to at least 250 knots.
The SB>1 Defiant has the same configuration as the smaller experimental aircraft S-97 Raider and is one of two demonstrators flying as part of the US Army’s Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) program, which is meant to led to a new model for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) competition to replace the Black Hawk by 2030.
The other demonstrator is the Bell’s V-280 Valor tilt-rotor which has been flying for more than two years and completed a series of autonomous test flights last December.
SB>1 Defiant N100FV ( Sikorsky Helicopters )
See also |
FLRAA >
Sikorsky SB>1 Defiant
Bell V-280 Valor Reaches 280 Knots
Defiant Reached 205 Knots
