The first Sikorsky S-97 Raider prototype pictured during its maiden flight in West Palm Beach, Florida. This new unconventional rotorcraft with its tail-mounted thrusting propeller for hight-speed cruise will remind many readers of the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne of the late sixties. © Sikorsky
Sikorsky announced today the successful first flight of the S-97 Raider helicopter, a rigid coaxial rotor prototype evolved from the Collier-Award winning X2 introduced less than a decade ago in full scale model form at the AUSA convention in Washington, D.C. Designed to demonstrate a game-changing combination of maneuverability, hoverability, range, speed, endurance and survivability. The first flight was conducted at Sikorsky’s Development Flight Center (DFC) where the two-prototype Raider helicopter test program is based.
During the first test flight, which lasted approximately one hour, Pilot Bill Fell and Co-Pilot Kevin Bredenbeck took the S-97 through a series of maneuvers designed to test the rotorcraft’s hover and low-speed capability. With this first flight achieved, the S-97 helicopter will now move into more progressive flight testing to demonstrate key performance parameters critical to future combat operations including armed reconnaissance, light assault, light attack and special operations. The S-97 Raider helicopter program is part of the portfolio of Sikorsky Innovations, the technology development organization within Sikorsky Aircraft’s Research & Engineering division.
“It is the Sikorsky Innovations charter to identify the toughest challenges in vertical flight, and to demonstrate solutions to them,” said Mark Miller, Vice President of Research & Engineering. “Getting an all-new aircraft into flight, especially one with game-changing capabilities, is a remarkable feat. With this first flight of the S-97 Raider helicopter, Sikorsky Aircraft is proving once again that the tough challenges will always propel us forward.”
Sikorsky launched the S-97 program in September 2010, with objectives of maturing the Collier-Award winning X2 rotorcraft configuration and demonstrating a helicopter that meets current U.S. Army special operations and armed reconnaissance needs, while maturing technologies for Future Vertical Lift (FVL). The program is 100 % industry-funded by Sikorsky Aircraft and its 53 industry partners.
Based on the X2 coaxial rotor design, the S-97 is, according to Sikorsky, capable of being developed into a unique multi-mission configuration able to carry six troops and external weapons. The coaxial counter-rotating main rotors and pusher propeller are expected to provide cruise speeds up to 240 knots (or 444 km/h). A performance well over the 175 knots (or 324 km/h) of the U.S. Army cancelled two-seat Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche and more akin to that of the Eurocopter X3 gyrodyne — with a dash-speed world record of 263 knots (487 km/h) achieved on 7 June 2013. Meanwhile a second Raider prototype is on track to complete final assembly in 2015. A demonstration tour of the S-97 helicopter is planned for 2016.
