The US Army Aviation Technology Directorate (AATD) has selected the Sikorsky Aircraft and Boeing team to build a helicopter for the joint, multirole technology demonstrator (JMR TD) Phase I programme.
The team will continue the development of the SB>1 Defiant, a coaxial-rotor compound helicopter design based on Sikorsky’s X2 technology rotorcraft. Flight testing is scheduled for 2017.
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Sikorsky president Mick Maurer said: "Defiant will use Sikorsky’s proven X2 technology to overcome aircraft design challenges, which will be critical requirements on future vertical-lift aircraft.
"The Sikorsky-Boeing team’s integrated approach has created a unique blend of expertise, innovative spirit and customer commitment."
"The complementary capabilities of each team member have delivered a design that will provide the best future vertical-lift solution to the US Army, and the flexibility of our design makes it suited for naval applications as well."
Boeing Military Aircraft president Shelley Lavender said: "As the original equipment manufacturers for both the Black Hawk and Apache helicopters, we bring tremendous technological breadth and depth to the customer."
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By GlobalDataCapable of flying faster and farther than existing models, SB>1 Defiant is expected to feature counter-rotating rigid-main rotor blades for vertical and forward flight, a pusher propeller for high-speed acceleration and deceleration, as well as an advanced fly-by-wire flight control system.
A subset of the US Department of Defense’s (DoD) joint future vertical-lift effort, the JMR programme aims to develop a family of helicopters with enhanced avionics, electronics, range, speed, propulsion, survivability, operating density altitudes and payload capacities.
The helicopters are expected to replace the army’s existing UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook helicopters, as well as similar aircraft used by the navy, air force and Marine Corps, from 2030.
Image: A graphical representation of the future JMR configuration for the next-generation helicopter. Photo: courtesy of the US Army.
