{"id":1165,"date":"2015-05-28T18:23:05","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T18:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theme-sphere.com\/smart-mag\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2015-06-15T01:47:35","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T01:47:35","slug":"sikorsky-s-97-raider-performs-successful-maiden-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/2015\/05\/28\/sikorsky-s-97-raider-performs-successful-maiden-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Sikorsky S-97 Raider performs successful maiden flight"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
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. \u00a9 Sikorsky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\u2019s Development Flight Center (DFC) where the two-prototype Raider helicopter test program is based. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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\u2019s Research & Engineering division.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the Sikorsky Innovations charter to identify the toughest challenges in vertical flight, and to demonstrate solutions to them,\u201d said Mark Miller, Vice President of Research & Engineering. \u201cGetting 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[42,43,44,45],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-defense","tag-sikorsky","tag-s-97","tag-helicopter","tag-maiden-flight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1165"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2153,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1165\/revisions\/2153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinaero.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}