U.S. Army Defining New Multi-Role Helicopter

Gestart door jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter), 08/04/2012 | 09:29 uur

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Citaat van: 5m@sh_1up op 03/05/2015 | 17:02 uur
Ik heb mijn twijfels bij het ontwerp...

Afhankelijk van waar ie voor gebruikt gaat worden natuurlijk... Maar ik zie vooral een grote helikopter, met waarschijnlijk weinig ruimte in de cabin. Ook geen grote deuren waardoor makkelijk en snel in- en uitgestegen kan worden, laat staan fatsoenlijk interne cargo meenemen. Maar goed, misschien kan dat gefixed worden of misschien is dat omdat het nog een prototype is. Wat ik me het meest afvraag is hoe ze denken om te kunnen gaan met de propellor achterop, die mij ENORM kwetsbaar lijkt, voor bijvoorbeeld steentjes of ander FOD. Vooral bij landingen op gravel of rotsachtige ondergrond, zie ik het zo gebeuren dat de stenen de propellor in vliegen, met alle gevolgen van dien.

Een al eerder geplaats artikel in dit topic, een andere kandidaat....

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2681074/Is-US-Armys-generation-superchopper-Radical-design-dual-tilting-blades-travel-50-faster-Black-Hawk.html#ixzz36a9O7ZT4

5m@sh_1up

Ik heb mijn twijfels bij het ontwerp...

Afhankelijk van waar ie voor gebruikt gaat worden natuurlijk... Maar ik zie vooral een grote helikopter, met waarschijnlijk weinig ruimte in de cabin. Ook geen grote deuren waardoor makkelijk en snel in- en uitgestegen kan worden, laat staan fatsoenlijk interne cargo meenemen. Maar goed, misschien kan dat gefixed worden of misschien is dat omdat het nog een prototype is. Wat ik me het meest afvraag is hoe ze denken om te kunnen gaan met de propellor achterop, die mij ENORM kwetsbaar lijkt, voor bijvoorbeeld steentjes of ander FOD. Vooral bij landingen op gravel of rotsachtige ondergrond, zie ik het zo gebeuren dat de stenen de propellor in vliegen, met alle gevolgen van dien.

Ace1

#33
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Ace1

Cash-strapped US Army aviation focuses on immediate needs

A futuristic fleet of speedier and more survivable rotorcraft are at least 15 years away, but US Army aviation officials are not willing to wait that long to start addressing a long list of perceived needs.

That stance has placed the aviation branch in the awkward position of attempting to both modernise the current fleet and develop an all-new family of replacement aircraft featuring breakthrough technology, while coping with a budget constrained by sequestration cuts.

"We want the new capability, but we can't afford it," says Heidi Shyu, assistant secretary of the army for acquisition, technology and logistics, addressing the Army Aviation Association of America annual conference on 30 March.

The army plans to have the first operational unit of the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) fleet available in 2030. Two high-speed rotorcraft concepts – the tiltrotor Bell Helicopter/Lockheed Martin V-280 and coaxial-compound, rigid-rotor Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 – are being developed for the joint multi-role technology demonstration (JMR-TD), which is expected to help the army shape requirements for FVL.

In the meantime, the army aviation branch has a long list of priorities for modernizing an existing combat helicopter fleet of Sikorsky UH-60s, Boeing AH-64s and Boeing CH-47s.

The army wants the aviation branch available to operate anywhere at any time. The current fleet includes three of the most capable military helicopters in any fleet, but they still have limitations, says Major Gen Michael Lundy, commanding general of the US Army Aviation Center of Excellence.

"Right now, we can't fly and fight in all environments," Lundy says. "We don't have the [engine] power we need."

In response, the army is funding the improved turbine engine programme (ITEP), an all-new 3,000shp engine to replace the 2,000shp GE Aviation T700 powering both the AH-64 and UH-60. GE and ATEC, a joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and Honeywell, are competing to win the ITEP development contract.

But ITEP also highlights the funding tension between modernising and replacing the army's current fleet. The FVL fleet demands a much larger engine in the 6,000shp-class, so the army has launched the Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE) programme, but it is not clear if both projects can move forward if Congress does not repeal the sequestration budget policy.

The army also wants to accelerate a programme to develop technology that can allow a helicopter to land in a "brown-out" conditions, Lundy says. The branch also needs to link its combat aircraft with ground troops by installing the soldier networking waveform across the fleet, he says. Aircraft survivability also must be improved to cope with an increasingly capable of generation of shoulder-fired missiles.

"If it's a new [threat] we've got to be able to rapidly adapt to that," Lundy says. "We're too slow right now. That's an issue."

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/cash-strapped-us-army-aviation-focuses-on-immediate-410730/

Ace1

OPINION: Why US Army aviation plans are in a spin

Helicopter manufacturers, here is your challenge: build a machine that can pick up a critically wounded soldier at the top of a 6,000ft mountain on a hot day in July, dash at 220kt (407km/h) or faster to a medical ­facility hundreds of kilometres away, then land the vehicle easily in a blinding sandstorm while an onboard countermeasure system thwarts an incoming, state-of-the-art surface-to-air missile. And bonus points if you can make it do all those things without a pilot on board.

As you let that technological challenge sink in, you should be aware of a couple of small details. The world's largest helicopter operator may not be completely sold on the challenge, and the customer probably does not have the money to pay for it. This is the US Army and its Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme.

This may be the most technologically ambitious rotorcraft project ever to migrate from a laboratory curiosity into an approved acquisition effort. Two industry teams will begin building demonstrator aircraft in two years. A new engine design to support the project is already on the drawing board, and the date for starting low-rate initial production has been set.

Despite all of those positives, a sense of ­hopelessness hangs over the effort. And it is not just because all of the army's clean-sheet development projects for new combat helicopters have ended in disaster since the early 1980s (excluding the Airbus Helicopters LUH-72A Lakota, but that was a commercially-based design with no development required).

The army's resources are being stretched by the downturn in spending after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As the supply of overseas contingency ­funding has shrivelled, the procurement budget of the army's aviation branch has plummeted by 40% in less than three years. But its wish list of procurement ­priorities has only expanded. As future combat is more likely to involve urban canyons in megacities than open deserts or remote mountain hideouts, it feels compelled to seek better survivability systems and more advanced sensors.

Even if a series of FVL aircraft designs moves into production, the army must also somehow sustain the three current workhorses of its combat fleet – Boeing's AH-64 Apache and CH-47 Chinook, and the Sikorsky UH-60 – until beyond 2060. Within about 10-15 years, planned engine upgrades for the UH-60 might allow a Black Hawk to pluck the wounded soldier off the mountain. It will not go as fast or as far as a notional FVL, but perhaps that will have to be good enough.

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/opinion-why-us-army-aviation-plans-are-in-a-spin-410842/

Ace1

U.S. Army Selects Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing to Build Prototypes for Next Generation Helicopter Program


SB-1 Defiant.

The U.S. Army has picked designs from Bell Helicopter and a Sikorsky/Boeing team to continue development of Joint Multi-Role (JMR) high-speed rotorcraft designs.

"These teams will build technology demonstration (TD) aircraft with flight tests starting in 2017," the Army said in a statement released to USNI News on Friday.

The two prototype aircraft will be built and flown as part of the Joint Multi Role Technology Demonstrator Air Vehicle effort—which will inform the Army's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program to replace the long-serving Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64E Apache.

The FVL program will also inform the US Navy's MH-XX program to replace the MH-60 Seahawk.

"The intent of the JMR TD effort is to maximize the knowledge gain and risk reduction toward an anticipated Future Vertical Lift acquisition program," said Dan Bailey, the Army's JMR/FVL program director.
"The baseline strategy based on the current funding allocation requires descope from the four initial designs to two for build and flight test."


Bell-V2280

Two other teams led by Karem Aircraft and AVX Aircraft were not selected for continued development, but the service is still interested in their technologies.
"The Army will seek to continue technology development efforts with those teams based on resources and opportunities," the service said.

The Sikorsky-Boeing entry, called the SB-1 Defiant, is a compound helicopter design with co-axial rotors and a pusher-propeller. The aircraft is based on Sikorsky's revolutionary X-2 design that was designed to overcome the 200-knot speed limit of most helicopters as a result of a phenomenon called the dissymmetry of lift.

The Bell Helicopter design, which is called the V-280 Valor, is an advanced tilt-rotor design that is based upon technology similar to the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey. The new tilt-rotor is smaller, faster and much more maneuverable than the Osprey and has a top speed of over 300 knots.

The rejected AVX design was a compound helicopter design similar to the Defiant. Meanwhile, the rejected Karem proposal was a variable-speed tilt-rotor similar to the Bell entry.

http://news.usni.org/2014/10/03/u-s-army-selects-bell-sikorskyboeing-build-prototypes-next-generation-helicopter-program



Harald

Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER Program Begins Ground Tests

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), today announced the start of bladed ground testing, a major milestone, for the S-97 RAIDER™ program. The RAIDER™ is an armed reconnaissance rotorcraft designed to significantly outmatch conventional military helicopters in maneuverability, payload, speed, range and high/hot environmental conditions.

"Testing all of the aircraft's systems together, for the first time, marks significant progress in the development of this next generation helicopter and moves the program closer to first flight," said S-97 RAIDER Program Manager Mark Hammond.

During the ground runs phase, the S-97 RAIDER team is testing the first of two aircraft prototypes as a completed system for the first time. The team will perform initial ground tests with the aircraft tied down and will focus on verifying correct operation of the propulsion system, drive train, rotor control system and pilot-vehicle interface.

This testing comes on the heels of the recent successful completion of software qualification testing, component fatigue testing, and gearbox testing, for the first S-97 RAIDER prototype.

Sikorsky launched the S-97 RAIDER program in October 2010 with the objectives of maturing the X2™ rotorcraft design and offering a helicopter to meet U.S. Army reconnaissance and special operations needs.

In addition to ground runs for the first prototype, the program team at Sikorsky's Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, is prepared to begin final assembly of the second prototype S-97 RAIDER helicopter, following acceptance last month of the fuselage structure from Aurora Flight Sciences. Sikorsky rolled out the first prototype in October 2014.

Based on Sikorsky's rigid X2 rotor coaxial design, the S-97 RAIDER helicopter features next-generation technologies in a multi-mission configuration, capable of carrying six troops and external weapons. The coaxial counter-rotating main rotors and pusher propeller provide cruise speeds up to 220 knots (253 mph).

"We look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate the RAIDER's revolutionary performance and unmatched maneuverability for the U.S. Army," said Steve Engebretson, Director, Advanced Military Programs. "We're delivering on our promise to design and build a helicopter with performance capabilities not seen before."

The S-97 RAIDER helicopter demonstrator program is 100 percent industry-funded. Sikorsky provides 75 percent of the investment and the suppliers provide the remaining funding. Sikorsky's goal is to attract government interest in the program.

https://www.defencetalk.com/sikorsky-s-97-raider-program-begins-ground-tests-62629/

Harald

Sikorsky, Bell Tout Flying Characteristics Of JMR Rotorcraft Candidates

Replacing U.S. Army medium helicopters is about more than speed

Speed comes at a cost and, as Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing design fast rotorcraft demonstrators for the U.S. Army, to justify the price they must prove their designs will do more than cross the battlefield more swiftly than today's helicopters.

Their competing Joint Multi Role (JMR) demonstrators are set to fly in 2017, but Sikorsky will have an early opportunity to showcase all its rigid coaxial-rotor compound helicopter configuration can do when its 220-kt. S-97 Raider armed scout prototype flies.

The first industry funded S-97 rolled out Oct. 2 (see photo) and is planned to fly this year. A second will be used for customer demonstrations soon after the first Raider has opened up the flight envelope. Sikorsky is already designing demonstrations with prospective customers, to show the military utility of higher speed, but also the design's "unique flight characteristics."

Sikorsky's X2 configuration comprises contra-rotating rotors with hingeless hubs and stiff blades for hover efficiency and low-speed agility. The rigid rotors are closely spaced, hubs and shaft faired, to minimize drag at high speed. Coaxial rotors eliminate the tailrotor. Instead the engine also drives a pusher propulsor via a clutch so the propeller can be disengaged at low speed to increase safety and reduce noise.

This integration of coaxial rotors and pusher propulsor gives the Raider its unique characteristics. The 11,000-lb. helicopter will hover out-of-ground effect at 10,000 ft. on a 95F day, compared with 4,000 ft. for the Army's 5,500-lb. Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout. The Raider will cruise at 220 kt. carrying external stores—faster when clean and light—while the OH-58D can be limited to just 90 kt. in hot/high conditions, Sikorsky says.

But the variable-pitch propulsor, active elevons and rudders on the tail, and rotor disks that can tilt together or differentially give the S-97—and therefore also the Sikorsky/Boeing SB-1 Defiant JMR demonstrator—"more control degrees of freedom" than a conventional helicopter, says Andreas Bernhard, Raider chief engineer.

To move into forward flight from the hover, a traditional helicopter tilts its rotor disk down and the fuselage follows, leaving the pilots looking at the ground as it accelerates. Using the pusher propeller, the Raider can lift into a hover and accelerate "in a level attitude to 200 kt. at the end of the runway, giving the pilots complete situational awareness of the environment around them," Bernhard says.

At low speed, the propulsor's forward- and reverse-thrust capability "allows us to decouple the aircraft's attitude from its trajectory, to point it in directions different to where it is flying," Bernhard says. "We can hang on the prop and drop the nose, or sit on the prop and pull the nose up, which allows us to sweep a cone with the sensors and weapons."

In level flight, rudders and elevons allow different trim states that enable aircraft attitude to be adjusted to reduce drag or optimize the sensor or weapon field of regard, he says. The Raider will also be able to pull -higher-g maneuvers at higher speeds than conventional helicopters, although Sikorsky is not revealing its maneuverability targets for the aircraft.

But it is not just Sikorsky (and Boeing) that must prove the value of a new configuration. Bell has to show that a high-speed tiltrotor can match a helicopter in hover capability and low-speed agility. The V-22 Osprey has proved a tiltotor is fast, and can decelerate and accelerate quickly to increase survivability into and out of the landing zone. But the V-22 has higher disk loading and lower hover efficiency than a helicopter.

Compared to the V-22, the 280-kt. V-280 Valor JMR demonstrator will be simpler and lighter, with lower disk loading and longer wing for greater hover and cruise efficiency. But Bell does not have a prototype to display before the V-280 flies. So it has teamed with Textron sister company TRU Simulation & Training to build a high-fidelity marketing simulator. "We want to get more pilots in, so they can understand how to fly a tiltrotor, its acceleration and deceleration and low-speed agility," says Keith Flail, Bell's Future Vertical Lift program director.

http://aviationweek.com/technology/sikorsky-bell-tout-flying-characteristics-jmr-rotorcraft-candidates

Harald

Sikorsky Talks To Customers About Potential Raider Applications

Sikorsky defined the modern helicopter when the VS-300, with single main and tail rotors, made its first flight in 1939. Now the manufacturer wants to redefine rotorcraft with a configuration that offers higher speed, maneuverability and hover performance, but retains the helicopter's defining low-speed agility while enabling unique flight characteristics.

Rolled out at Sikorsky's development test center in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Oct. 2, the S-97 Raider is the second example of the new configuration and a third is on the way. First was the X2 technology demonstrator, which exceeded 260 kt. in 2010. The third, the Sikorsky/Boeing SB.1 Defiant, is to fly in 2017 under the U.S. Army's Joint Multi-Role (JMR) technology demonstration.

While potentially a product in its own right, the Raider constitutes a crucial step in proving that Sikorsky's rigid coaxial-rotor compound helicopter configuration can be scaled from the 6,000-lb.-gross-weight X2 to a 30,000-lb.-class Future Vertical Lift Medium utility rotorcraft that could replace thousands of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks beginning around 2035.

The industry-funded Raider program also provides an opportunity for Sikorsky to hone the rapid-prototyping processes pioneered on the company-funded X2 and now being applied to the JMR demonstrator, the cost of which is being shared by industry and the Army.

"The philosophy behind the X2 technology demonstrator is carried over: a rapid prototyping culture with a small team brokering the best in industry and innovating at the system level to create an innovative assemblage of things we know and understand that has really good traceability [to production]," says Mark Miller, vice president of research and engineering.

Sikorsky emphasizes the X2 was developed not by invention, but intelligent integration of available technologies. The company first flew the rigid coaxial-rotor compound configuration in the 1970s with the XH-59A experimental helicopter. This was fast, exceeding 260 kt., but noisy, shaky, thirsty, complex and hard to fly, requiring two pilots to manage four engines.

The X2 demonstrator applied advances in fly-by-wire flight control, rotor-hub drag reduction, integrated auxiliary propulsion, active vibration control and lightweight, stiff composite blades and structures, to overcome the drawbacks and unlock the benefits of the configuration. The result was a single-pilot, single-engine aircraft with similar vibration levels to a Black Hawk while flying twice as fast.

The X2 was a $50 million internally funded effort that took 43 months to first flight and achieved the 250-kt. level-flight speed goal in 17 test flights. From launch of the Raider in July 2010 to a first flight in December will be 49 months, and the two-prototype program is expected to cost Sikorsky and its suppliers around $200 million. The first aircraft will be used for envelope expansion and the second for customer demonstrations.

Powered by a single 2,600-shp-class General Electric YT706, the 11,500-lb.-gross-weight Raider has 34-ft.-dia. hingeless rotors each with four blades. Coaxial rotors eliminate the need for an anti-torque tailrotor. Instead, the engine also drives a 7-ft.-dia. variable-pitch propeller on the tail that provides thrust for high speed, but can be disengaged via a clutch at low speed or in hover to increase safety and reduce noise.

The Raider is designed to exceed 220 kt. in cruise, but the propulsor will also enable new modes of flight, including level-attitude acceleration and deceleration and nose-pointing for weapons employment. The Raider test program is expected to explore the utility of these new characteristics.

Key to Raider's rapid development has been a virtual design environment in which "we build before we build, and fly before we fly," says Miller. "We have a full system-integration laboratory, with every piece of hardware and software—sensors, generators, hydraulics—in the lab so we can shake it all out before we fly," explains Chris Van Buiten, vice president of technology and innovation. "We started to fly on the ground a year ago, so we could find problems well in advance."

High-fidelity modeling and simulation tools play a key role. "Our purpose here is moving risk to the left, taking time up front to eliminate or minimize discoveries that would disrupt the program," notes Miller. "We have had basically zero discovery in assembly." Thanks to kinematic modeling, for example, the retractable main landing gear was installed in days, not weeks, and worked first time, he adds.

"Rapid prototyping does not mean cutting things out," says Miller. "When you push fundamental discovery into flight test, you risk the aircraft being down for months. The X2 expanded the envelope very efficiently, in 17 flights. Flying is expensive and we want to be pushing the envelope, not learning how the aircraft works," he says. "Sure, we will have discoveries in ground test and flight test, but we won't stumble on something we stumbled on a year ago," adds Van Buiten.

The company also relies heavily on its 53 supplier partners. "They provide 90% of the aircraft and Sikorsky does the integration and interface control documentation. This has allowed us to go fast with a high-quality culture," explains Van Buiten. "We have suppliers from large to small, all with different degrees of go-fast, and they are delivering parts in a time-frame they are not used to. It is exciting to watch."

"The industry is on the road to doing business with highly sourced, high-technology content," asserts Miller. "While we have a very extensive sup-plier network, we have strong system-level modeling tools and interface controls—the virtual design environment needs those," he says, noting the Raider suppliers all simultaneously work with the same design model, with no latency.

The first Raider is ready to go into ground test, says Van Buiten. "All the parts are in flow for the second aircraft, and the fuselage is done. We will have a bit of time in flight on No. 1 before we assemble No. 2 so we can incorporate any changes." A four-phase flight-test program is planned for No. 1, beginning with hover and low-speed testing, then expansion of the speed and maneuver envelope, and "pulling Gs at speed and unconventional low-speed maneuvers" with the propulsor.

"We will pick up where the X2 left off," says Miller. "We've been doing a lot of operational analysis and putting together vignettes to show how the unique flight characteristics of the aircraft can be used to fundamentally do things differently." Helicopter, fixed-wing and tiltrotor pilots have all flown the Raider simulator and provided feedback incorporated into the vignettes. "We plan to do some very unique demonstrations to show what it can do."

The industry-funded Raider prototypes are representative of the aircraft Sikorsky has offered to meet the U.S. Army's Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement, which is now in limbo because of budget pressures. "It is not a production aircraft, but is much more productized," says Miller. The prototypes are not built to military specifications, but Sikorsky is maintaining traceability to a parallel, fully productionized and military-qualified, objective aircraft design.

"Anywhere there is a difference [between the designs] we have traceability to a detailed analysis of what that item will cost [in production]," explains Miller. "We fully understand the production aircraft. There are no leaps of faith." This process is behind Sikorsky's confidence in its highly public declaration last year that a production Raider would have a $15 million flyaway cost—25% more than an off-the-shelf helicopter—based on building 428 aircraft to replace the Army's Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warriors.

Although AAS is on hold, Sikorsky is discussing with potential customers what they want to see demonstrated. "We have the opportunity to do some unique missionization of Aircraft 2, and bring in other technologies in collaboration with industry and customers," says Miller. "We are sitting down with potential customers discussing how the aircraft might be uniquely configured."

As Sikorsky prepares to fly the Raider, it already is feeding lessons learned to the JMR program with Boeing. "It is not complete transference, but we will get a running start on JMR," notes Miller. The virtual design environment is "robust and transferable, and we took great pains to document the rapid prototyping process so we can continue to do programs very fast," adds Doug Shidler, director of the JMR technology demonstrator program. "What we were able to do on Raider we are seeing on JMR."

http://aviationweek.com/defense/sikorsky-talks-customers-about-potential-raider-applications

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

Sikorsky S-97 Raider Specification & Technical Data

October 4, 2014

In mid-2008, Sikorsky unveiled a revolutionary technology demonstrator. They called it the X2. Just two years later, the very same aircraft was performing unbelievable maneuvers and had unofficially dethroned the Westland Lynx to become the world's fastest rotorcraft.

The secret behind the X2's speed and agility was the presence of a set of composite, four bladed, coaxial rotors. Though this area demanded a high level of expertise, Sikorsky had been working on this specific area for decades on different rotorcraft, starting with the X-69 followed by the UH-60 Black Hawk and the RAH-66 Comanche.

What the coaxial rotors meant was that a separate tail rotor was not required. This freed up some real estate on the tail for the addition of the pusher propeller. The pusher propeller produced a considerable amount of thrust and played a major role in increasing the top speed of the rotorcraft. A single LHTEC T800 LHT 801 turbo shaft engine powered both the coaxial rotor blades as well as the six bladed pusher propeller.

Sikorsky unveiled two S-97 prototypes at its facility in West Palm Beach, Florida on October 2nd. "Sikorsky will begin ground testing shortly and is on track for first flight this year," Sikorsky's Advanced Military Program Director Steve Engerbretson said. "The entire flight program will take about a year to complete."

S97 raider

There is good reason for Sikorsky to finish flight-testing of the S-97 as soon as possible. The Stratford based company and its partners have privately funded the entire S-97 program. Therefore, they intend on offering the S-97 to the US Army as a replacement for the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, a helicopter that dates back to the Vietnam War era, as part of the Armed Aerial Scout program (AAS). The OH-58 Kiowa Warrior was primarily an observation or "scout" helicopter, also capable of fulfilling the light attack role. Due to its small size and ability to get in and out of sticky situations without so much as breaking a sweat, Special Forces operators preferred it. The S-97 Raider seems to be ideally suited for this role, as it not only lives up to, but also improves upon the characteristics of the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior.

With a top speed of almost 220 knots, heavy armament, high power to weight ratio and the ability to carry up to 6 personnel, the advantages of the S-97 are as clear as day. However, if the last couple of years have taught us anything, it is not to be over reliant on technology.

"If it's not broken, don't fix it". It will be interesting to see if the S-97 Raider will be able to achieve what the V-22 and the F-35 as of yet, have not.

Sikorsky S-97 Raider

Role Scout and attack helicopter
National origin United States
Manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft
First flight  
Introduction  
Primary users Unites States Army
Unit cost  
Number built  
Crew 0-2 pilots
Capacity 6 troops
Length 35 ft (11 m)
Gross weight 11,000 lb (4,990 kg)
Max takeoff weight 1 × General Electric YT706 , 2,600 shp (1,900 kW)
Powerplant 1 (2 coaxial)× 34 ft (10 m)
Main rotor diameter 1 (2 coaxial)× 34 ft (10 m)
Propellers 6-bladed pusher propeller, Variable pitch, clutchable, 7 ft (2.1 m) diameter
Cruising speed 253 mph; 407 km/h (220 kn) (with external weapons)
Range 354 mi; 308 nmi (570 km)
Service ceiling 10,000 ft (3,048 m) 95?
Guns 50 cal gun w/500 rounds
Rockets 7 shot rockets pod

http://www.defenceaviation.com/2014/10/sikorsky-s-97-raider-specification-technical-data.html

Ace1

#23
Affordability Challenge In Pursuit Of Army JMR/FVL

Higher speed will not be enough to persuade the U.S. Army to pursue an advanced rotorcraft

A version of this article appears in the August 25 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology.



Bell must prove that the cost and complexity of a tiltrotor can be reduced significantly. Credit: Bell Helicopter Concept

The two teams have been chosen to fly high-speed rotorcraft in 2017 under the Joint Multi-Role (JMR) technology demonstration, a precursor to the planned Future Vertical Lift Medium (FVL-M) program to replace first the utility UH-60s and later the Army's Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. FVL-M could also replace the Navy's Sikorsky MH-60 Seahawks and the Air Force's Black Hawk variants.

Between them, the three companies supply most of the Pentagon's rotorcraft. For Boeing and Sikorsky, winning one of the two JMR "X-plane" contracts and an FLV-M "Y-plane" fly-off planned for the mid-2020s is crucial to protecting their incumbency with the Army. For Bell, FVL-M would keep the company in the Army business after the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior is phased out.

They faced competition for the demonstrator contracts from two companies offering a "small prime, big team" approach to JMR/FVL—AVX Aircraft and Karem Aircraft. But ensuring the teams had the capability to accomplish the demonstration was a key part of the Army's evaluation, and the "Big Three" and their suppliers brought significant engineering resources and cost-sharing to the table. Both AVX and Karem are waiting to hear if the Army will fund them to continue some technology development work on their designs.

Agreements in place with all four bidders called for 50:50 cost sharing, but both Bell and Sikorsky/Boeing say industry is investing much more than the government. The reason is the program's importance to the rotorcraft manufacturers. JMR/FVL will "reinvigorate industry with an opportunity to design an aircraft from the ground up," says Pat Donnelly, director of the Sikorsky/Boeing JMR team, noting that winning FVL-M would be "a significant continuation of the industrial base built up for Black Hawk and Apache."

But FVL-M is not a done deal for the JMR winners. The technology demonstration is intended to ensure that advanced rotorcraft capable of at least 230 kt.—50% faster than the Black Hawk—are viable candidates for procurement. However, the Army has yet to decide whether and when to launch a program, or if it will be an advanced rotorcraft, a new conventional helicopter or another upgrade to the UH-60.

"The timeline is a government decision. The best we can do is execute the [demonstration] program well, show the Army the realm of the possible by 2017 and make it more likely they will want to commit," says Chris Gehler, director of military program operations for Bell. "Affordability is critical." Cost-prohibitive leap-ahead performance is not a solution, he says. "Everything we are doing is focused on bringing an affordable vehicle to the game. We have to give them a reason to continue."


Sikorsky/Boeing must prove the benefit of coaxial rotors and propulsor to the utility mission. Credit: Sikorsky-Boeing Concept

For Bell, proving its 280-kt.-cruise V-280 Valor tiltrotor is affordable is crucial because the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey has established the tiltrotor's reputation as capable, but costly to produce and maintain. "With tiltrotor you get inherent performance, but the question is affordability," says Gehler. "The V-280 is a clean-sheet third-generation tiltrotor. Our focus is on reducing cost and weight, increasing reliability and performance, and making the aircraft come together in the most affordable way."

The main driver of cost is weight, Gehler says, so the V-280 makes extensive use of composites in the wing, fuselage and V tail. Wing skins and ribs are of honeycomb-stiffened sandwich construction with large-cell carbon cores for fewer, larger and lighter parts. Skins and ribs are paste-bonded together, eliminating fasteners. Costs are reduced more than 30% compared with a scaled V-22 wing, Bell says.

For Sikorsky/Boeing, the 230-kt.-plus SB-1 Defiant is a scale-up of the rigid coaxial-rotor compound helicopter configuration already flown at smaller size with Sikorsky's X2 Technology demonstrator and being built at a larger size with two industry-funded S-97 Raider light tactical helicopter prototypes, the first of which is to fly by year-end. In addition to affordability, the team will have to demonstrate the utility of the SB-1's rigid rotors and tail-mounted propeller in the Black Hawk's transport missions.

"Our hingeless coaxial rotors provide better maneuverability and handling, and allow us to reduce the height between the rotors for lower drag," says Donnelly. "The goal is long range and high speed without compromising low-speed maneuverability. The Defiant will operate like a helicopter in the landing zone, but have the speed and range of a tiltrotor." The variable-pitch propulsion will provide acceleration and deceleration, nose-up/-down pitch pointing and can be declutched for safety and quietness in the landing zone, he says.

In the phase just ended, each contender produced two rotorcraft designs, for the air vehicle concept demonstrator (AVCD) and for an objective aircraft meeting the model performance specification (MPS)—the Army science and technology community's best guess at the FVL-M operational requirements, which will not be set for several more years. "The AVCD is a fully representative, full-scale flight demo of the MPS design to provide the Army with an accurate reflection of what to expect in a future medium-class aircraft," says Gehler.

The AVCD designs used available technology, including legacy engines: General Electric T64s for Bell's V-280 and Honeywell T55s for Sikorsky/Boeing's Defiant. The MPS designs were not limited to what is available now, and could be designed around the Army's planned fuel-efficient Future Affordable Turbine Engine, for which GE is building a demonstrator. "Composites use in the AVCD fuselage is similar to the V-22, with carbon skins and aluminum stringers. MPS has a completely composite fuselage," says Gehler.

http://aviationweek.com/defense/affordability-challenge-pursuit-army-jmrfvl

jurrien visser (JuVi op Twitter)

#22
Citaat van: Harald op 03/10/2014 | 23:17 uur
Het project is in delen geknipt

Four size configurations (which may or may not be of the same design) are envisioned to replace 25 current rotorcraft types:

JMR-Light: Scout version to replace the OH-58 Kiowa; introduction planned for 2030.
JMR-Medium: Utility and attack versions to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache; introduction planned for 2027–2028.
JMR-Heavy: Cargo version to replace the CH-47 Chinook; introduction planned for 2035, although Boeing expects 2060.[11]
JMR-Ultra: New ultra-sized version for vertical lift aircraft with performance similar to fixed-wing tactical transport aircraft, such as the C-130J Super Hercules and the Airbus A400M Atlas; introduction planned for 2025.

De S-97 is dus voor een ontwerp voor JMR-Light

De SB-1 Defiant is een JMR-medium, een grotere variant met dezelfde vorm, elementen als de S-97

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Vertical_Lift

Ik zie zomaar een variant (of meerdere) in 2030 voor de KLu (laat 2030 ook een richt datum zijn voor de Apache vervanger) Daarnaast zullen ook de 12 Cougars (na een eventuele MLU) tegen die tijd vervangen moeten worden als ze úberhaubt worden vervangen.

Harald

Het project is in delen geknipt

Four size configurations (which may or may not be of the same design) are envisioned to replace 25 current rotorcraft types:

JMR-Light: Scout version to replace the OH-58 Kiowa; introduction planned for 2030.
JMR-Medium: Utility and attack versions to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache; introduction planned for 2027–2028.
JMR-Heavy: Cargo version to replace the CH-47 Chinook; introduction planned for 2035, although Boeing expects 2060.[11]
JMR-Ultra: New ultra-sized version for vertical lift aircraft with performance similar to fixed-wing tactical transport aircraft, such as the C-130J Super Hercules and the Airbus A400M Atlas; introduction planned for 2025.

De S-97 is dus voor een ontwerp voor JMR-Light
De SB-1 Defiant is een JMR-medium, een grotere variant met dezelfde vorm, elementen als de S-97

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Vertical_Lift