After Bell, with the Bell xnumx invictus, it is the turn of Sikorsky, and its partner Lockheed, to present the Raider selected for the reconnaissance and attack helicopter program FARA belonging to the super program Future Vertical Lift de l 'U.S. Army. Unsurprisingly, the manufacturer who presents the SB1 Defiant face Bell V280 Valor to replace the Black Hawk helicopters, offers, for competition, a model with a counter-rotating rotor and propulsive propeller derived from the prototype S97 Raider, itself derived from the demonstrator X2 who experimented with this configuration between 2008 and 2011.
Unsurprisingly because the S97 Raider is a 5 ton class aircraft capable of transporting, in addition to the crew of 1 or 2 pilots, 6 personnel or 500 kg of payload, which was initially designed with the idea of ​​replacing the OH-56 Kiowa, which is precisely the purpose of the FARA program. But Sikorsky's new helicopter will not be the S97 Raider, but the raider x, a version optimized to provide, according to its designers, the greatest added value on the battlefield, at the most critical moment.
And there is no shortage of arguments, the technology at the heart of the Sikorsky model, otherwise undisclosed because it would not be completely defined. Firstly, speed, which is undoubtedly the strong point of this technology combining counter-rotating lift rotor and propulsive propeller, the S97 having demonstrated that it could sustain a cruising speed of 220 knots (410 km/h) and a speed maximum speed of 240 knots (440 km/h). Remember that the US Army requires a minimum speed of 180 knots for the FARA program, and that this is the maximum speed of the Bell 360. This high speed of the Sikorsky model also means that we do not have to optimize the aerodynamic profile of the aircraft as much as possible, allowing, among other things, to place the crew side by side and not in tandem, greatly facilitating cooperative work, and to carry personnel and possibly cargo in the cabin, something impossible with the Bell 360.
It is likely that the FARA competition will be played out between these two manufacturers, and these two devices with very divergent concepts. To the cutting-edge performance and development potential of the Sikorsky model, Bell is responding with the ultimate light helicopter model in a traditional configuration, benefiting from the achievements of 70 years of development in this field. Thus, Bell ensures that its Invictus will be more reliable, easier to maintain, and more efficient and maneuverable at low speed than its competitor, and above all, less expensive to purchase and use. Sikorsky, for its part, is confident in the performance of its model, and in its ability to justify the price difference with a significant difference in operational capabilities, and that the composite rotor and fly-by-wire controls of the Raider maneuverability and responsiveness superior to those of traditional concepts.
In addition, the designers of the Raider-X assure that the price of the device will be below $30 million, the limit set by the US Army for this program. Finally, with the S97 Raider which has aligned flights and performances since 2015, and the SB1 Defiant which, although it took longer to design than the V280 Valor, is now being tested, Sikorsky has all the know-how to significantly reduce technological risks, one of the key points when it comes to evaluating a disruptive technology.
The arbitration concerning the FARA program will therefore be complex, between a device of traditional optimized design and offered at $15 million by Bell, but with only low scalability, and a much more efficient, scalable and versatile device, but with the price will in all probability be between $25 million and $30 million according to Sikorsky. The US Army, which is also engaged in numerous other programs to modernize its armored force, its artillery, its anti-aircraft defense capabilities to name only the main ones, will not only have to take into account the criteria and parameters of the program FARA, but also those of other programs, to make its decision. One thing is certain, nothing is decided in advance in this competition...