Newest helicopter for Sikorsky aims for speed records

— With a low buzz that couldn’t be heard 30 seconds away, a state-of-the-art tactical helicopter made its debut last week in Florida. It hovered above an airstrip, swirled left and right, and sped to 230 mph, still short of its unofficial world record speed.

The demonstration of Sikorsky Aircraft’s X2, for the media and potential partners, led off an announcement by Sikorsky President Jeff Pino that the United Technologies Corp.-owned company and its team would spend more than $50 million to build a next-generation helicopter called the Raider.

The new helicopter could eventually lead to an Army contract and production, but initially, there will be no significant boost in jobs because of the new venture, Pino said.

Sikorsky, best known for the Army’s Black Hawk helicopter, has been developing the lightweight helicopter for four years with the goal of an aircraft that could fly more than 280 mph with low vibration and carrying one pilot.

“We’re not going to present this to Congress,” Pino said. “I believe they’re going to come to us.”

Pino said he was given the go-ahead from United Technologies’ board, though he could not assure a payback.Three of the four helicopterdevelopment programs begun five years ago lost funding, he pointed out.

The company plans to build two Raider prototypes for military evaluation. X2 test pilot Kevin Bredenbeck said a helicopter with X2 technology has the capability of stoppingquickly at a target in a war zone such as Afghanistan and speeding off before being attacked. It also could have medical evacuation applications as well, picking up troops or “a family on a rooftop,” such as was needed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Though speeding up to more than 280 mph, as Sikorsky achieved in September, the new helicopter doesn’t need more fuel to get there. “The whole key here is efficiency with speed,” Bredenbeck said.

Existing helicopters now top out at less than 200 mph, Sikorsky officials said.

The first flight of the Raider aircraft is projected in four years. The work will be done by a small team of engineers under the virtual organization of Sikorsky Innovation, with some workers at its Stratford, Conn., headquarters, and others in Florida and elsewhere. So far, 15 of those team members are based at Sikorsky in Palm Beach County, Fla., said Steve Cizewski, program manager for the X2. “It’s very exciting,” Cizewski said, adding that he never has a problem finding volunteers to work on the program.

Sikorsky plans to raise 25 percent to 30 percent of the funding for building the two Raiders from partners that specialize in products it needs for the aircraft.

The fastest-growing of United Technologies’ three aerospace divisions, Sikorsky already has a five-year, $7.4 billion deal to provide more than 530 Black Hawk and Seahawk helicopters for the Army and Navy.

Sikorsky is “hitting all cylinders now in terms of production and sales,” said Mark Bobbi, an analyst who follows Sikorsky.

Business, Pages 83 on 10/24/2010

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