Aerospace

Behold Sikorsky's "Raider X" Future High-Speed Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter

Last week Bell unveiled its 360 Invictus high-speed armed scout helicopter contender for the Army's Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) tender and now Sikorsky is firing back with its long-anticipated entrant, the "Raider X." The aircraft is based directly on its S-97 Raider demonstrator, which leverages the company's X2 compound helicopter technology to achieve very high speed and maneuverability for a rotorcraft. The company's larger SB>1 Defiant, which is taking part in the Joint Multi-Role (JMR) technology demonstration program now and is likely to try to capture the Future Vertical Lift-Medium contract in the future, also uses this unique configuration. Sikorsky's X2 technology has been developed and funded internally for over a decade. You can read all about it and the S-97 in this exclusive War Zone interview with the company's X2 team.