Writer

Charlotte Bailey

Airbus Helicopters is preparing to restart the flight test activity of its experimental Racer within Q1 2026: a campaign that will see the platform fitted with its unique ‘Eco-Mode’ technology for the first time. The team is also set to demonstrate Racer’s quantifiable noise footprint reduction, continue to refine aerodynamic optimisation, and perform in-flight winching and hoisting capabilities. 
The aircraft is shortly to emerge from its layup phase, where alongside the installation of the Eco-Mode system, it has been undergoing its post- 50 flight hour maintenance. Some improvements to the aircraft’s coamings, to be fitted from Q2, will also help Racer surpass a drag footprint already two and a half times less than that of a conventional helicopter of comparable weight.
The integration of the DGAC-funded Eco-Mode system – developed with Safran Helicopter Engines – “allows us to fly with only one engine operative, the other being in sleep mode,” chief engineer Brice Makinadijan told AIN. This capability will help Airbus achieve its target of demonstrating a further 15% reduction in fuel consumption compared to that of a conventional helicopter, building on the 25% reduction recorded in 2025. 
Racer will also demonstrate a reduced noise footprint of 30% as perceived from the ground, something Makinadijan says is made possible by the helicopter’s unique “capacity to control the speed and the attitude of the aircraft at each part of a [flight] trajectory.” This is enabled by the presence of the lateral rotors, and software integrated into the autopilot
<h2>Civilian and military missions </h2>
Central to the Racer program is <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aerospace/2024-07-23/racer-passes-220-knot-target">the platform’s speed</a>: employing a compound architecture to leverage aerodynamic efficiencies. In April 2024, it achieved over 444 kilometres/hr (240 kts) in level flight. “We strongly believe that the compound formula with wings and propellers is the formula which brings the best compromise in this quest,” explained Makinadijan.
However, he urges Racer is more than a demonstration of acceleration, deceleration and climb rate speeds: rather, “an extension of the conventional flight domain.” Crucially, the “sweet spot” of 220 kts “will bring the most value to our potential users, both in terms of military and civil missions,” multiplying existing aircraft’s efficiency by two while maintaining “the same level of manoeuvrability,” he continued.
With Makinadijan stressing that Search and Rescue missions are “in the roots of the Racer,” this year’s winch hoisting demonstrations will prove that despite the unique architecture, “theoretically everything is OK to perform this mission.” Finnish, French German and Italian military pilots have also been “really positively surprised” by their experiences at the flight controls, he added. 
With the project’s original funding source Clean Aviation Clean Sky 2 having filed 92 parents with 40 program partners to date, Racer truly represents an intra-European collaboration, urged Makinadijan. Bringing together insight from universities, institutes and the automotive industry, this is “diversity we have really been able to catalyze,” he concluded.

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