United Technologies (UTC) appeared to back away from Sikorsky long before new CEO Greg Hayes began dropping hints earlier this year that the technology conglomerate wanted to shed its underperforming rotorcraft subsidiary. The handwriting has been on the wall for the better part of a decade: the complicated nine-year trek to develop, certify and deliver the S-76D; the relatively slow pace of product improvement on the S-92A; and the virtual orphaning of its acquired Schweizer small helicopter division were all clues that UTC’s romance with rotors was over, despite the high-profile, experimental X2 and its military prototype S-97 descendant.
When the latter was unveiled in 2010 it should have been a joyous occasion for Sikorsky. Instead, then-president Jeff Pino lamented, “At this point in the development cycle, it appears that our biggest customer [the U.S. Department of Defense] is unwilling to invest major dollars in future technology. That is the real message that is being sent to us.” His pledge to develop the S-97 alone with industry partners rang hollow; U.S. rotorcraft innovation–both military and civil–ultimately requires DoD funding. Almost every significant U.S. civil helicopter program since the late 1950s was spawned from a military requirement and Defense Department dollars. Last summer the Pentagon did direct some new technology funding that could be applied to the S-97 Sikorsky’s way, in the form of selecting it as a finalist in the Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator Project (JMR-TD); but the amount is not enough to cover costs.
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