At a press conference yesterday morning, Sikorsky acknowledged the fifth anniversary of its Innovations research division, which was formed to tackle the most important issues facing the rotorcraft market, such as slow speed, poor maneuverability, vibration, noise and cost of maintenance. The group of about 100 engineers has access to the brainpower of the company’s 5,000 engineers worldwide. They work within the company’s three technology pillars of speed, autonomy and intelligence, and Chris Van Buiten, vice president of the division, gave the audience a window into the company’s recent developments in those areas.
Following successful flights of the X-2 technology demonstrator which set an unofficial world speed record for rotorcraft, the airframer is readying the S-97 Raider, the first production application of the technology for its first flight. “A basic rule of thumb is to launch a new airplane you better be 20- to 30-percent better than the existing aircraft in at least three dimensions,” said Van Buiten. “The Raider blows away the competition in traditional helicopter attributes in more than six dimensions.”
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