Sikorsky–Boeing SB-1 Defiant

The Sikorsky–Boeing SB-1 Defiant (stylized as "SB>1"; company designation S-100) is the Sikorsky Aircraft and Boeing entry for the United States Army's Future Vertical Lift program, succeeding the Joint Multi-Role initiative. It is a compound helicopter with rigid coaxial rotors, powered by two Honeywell T55s, and made its first flight on 21 March 2019.

SB-1 Defiant
Flight demonstration in February 2020
Role Compound helicopter
National origin United States
Manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft / Boeing
First flight 21 March 2019[1]
Status Under development

Development

Sikorsky Aircraft and Boeing are jointly producing a medium-lift-sized demonstrator they named SB>1 Defiant[2][3] (also widely known as "SB-1")[4][5] for phase one of the program. Originally planned to fly in late 2017, its first flight was delayed in April 2017 to early 2018.[6] Once flight testing begins, the aircraft will be evaluated by the Army for further development.[7][8] Sikorsky is leading the development of phase one with an aircraft based on their previous Sikorsky X2 design.[9]

Boeing plans to lead phase two, which is the mission systems demonstrator phase.[10] The Boeing-Sikorsky team is seen to have an advantage with their large industrial base that may result in wider support from Congress. Their transport helicopter designs are the most-used in the Army now, and the US Army has had little interest in the tiltrotor technology in Bell's submission.[11]

Up to 2013, Sikorsky and partners have spent $250 million on X2 and Raider.[5] The team and aircraft will be separate from the S-97 Raider.[9] The team feels confident in the SB-1 Defiant and is paying for more than half of its design costs. The last project the companies teamed up for was the RAH-66 Comanche, which started in the 1980s and cost $7 billion before being cancelled in 2004. They say that factors outside their control, like budget cuts, "requirement creep", and a long development period caused problems with the Comanche and not team dysfunctionality. Under the Comanche program, each company built different parts of the aircraft. For JMR, employees from both companies will work together. The team named the suppliers in 2015.[12] Swift Engineering Inc. supports the program with a major portion of the airframe structure designed and manufactured at the company's facility in San Clemente, California by an integrated team of Swift and Boeing employees.[13]

The timeline for the first flight has slipped several times. Originally scheduled for 2017, delays arose due to a requirement to implement automated fiber placement blade manufacture at the request of the U.S. Army.[14] Further delays resulted in the first flight slipping past summer 2018.[15] Dynamic systems like turboshafts, transmission, and rotors were scheduled to be tested at West Palm Beach, Florida, by the end of October 2018, before ground runs in November, then first flight to reach 200 knots (230 mph; 370 km/h) within six months.[14]

The first prototype was unveiled in December 2018, and the first flight was pushed to sometime in early 2019.[16] Ground runs began in January 2019; 15 hours of ground tests were needed before the first flight.[17]

The first flight took place on 21 March 2019 at Sikorsky West Palm Beach site in Florida.[1] In the summer of 2019, flights were suspended to address a bearing issue with the main rotor. Flight testing resumed 24 September 2019.[18] The aircraft reached a speed of 211 knots in October 2020.[19]

Design

Sikorsky and Boeing state the design is to have a cruise speed of 250 kn (290 mph; 460 km/h), but less range due to using the "old" T55 engine. A new engine, the Future Affordable Turbine Engine (FATE), is to meet the radius requirement of 229 nmi (264 mi; 424 km).[20][4] Compared to conventional helicopters, the counter-rotating coaxial main rotors and pusher propeller offer a 100-knot (115 mph; 185 km/h) speed increase, a 60% combat radius extension, and 50% better performance in high-hot hover performance.

Sikorsky has said that the X2 design is not suitable for heavy-lift size, and instead suggests the CH-53K for heavy-lift and tiltrotor for the ultra-class.[21] However, Sikorsky plans to build the 30,000-pound-class (14,000 kg) JMR-TD (with a cabin 50% larger than the Black Hawk) at full scale to remove doubts about the scalability of the X-2 technology.[3]

Sikorsky–Boeing states the SB-1 will be quick and nimble, with fast acceleration and deceleration, fast side-to-side movement, and the capability to hover with the tail up and nose down.[22] The Defiant demonstrator will be powered by the Honeywell T55, which powers the CH-47 Chinook. It will be slightly modified to better operate at slower propeller speeds, down to 85% rpm.[23]

See also

Related development

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

References
  1. "Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 DEFIANT™ Helicopter Achieves First Flight" (Press release). Boeing. 21 March 2019.
  2. "Sikorsky, Boeing Selected to Build Technology Demonstrator for Future Vertical Lift SB>1 Defiant expected to fly in 2017". Sikorsky press release, 12 August 2014. Archive
  3. Parker, Andrew D. "Good things come in threes: Boeing-Sikorsky to develop two larger X2 offshoots for JMR and Future Vertical Lift" Vertical, 16 October 2014. Accessed: 29 October 2014. Archived on 16 July 2015.
  4. Parsons, Dan (14 October 2014). "Sikorsky, Boeing finalise design of SB-1 Defiant". Flightglobal. Reed Business Information. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  5. "Sikorsky Moves X2 Technology Up A Size For JMR" Aviation Week & Space Technology, 4 November 2013. Accessed: 22 June 2014. Archived on 22 June 2014.
  6. "Defiant's first flight falls behind". Flightglobal. 21 April 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  7. Boeing and Sikorsky team up on US Army’s JMR – Flightglobal.com, 18 January 2013
  8. "Sikorsky, Boeing Partner for Joint Multi-Role Future Vertical Lift Requirements". PR Newswire. 18 January 2013. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  9. Boeing and Sikorsky Name New Rotorcraft Archived 2013-10-22 at the Wayback Machine – Aviationweek.com, 21 October 2013
  10. Sikorsky and Boeing to pitch ‘X-2’-based design for US Army JMR TD effort – Flightglobal.com, 28 February 2013
  11. "Boeing-Sikorsky Team Emerges as Frontrunner After EADS Quits Army Helo Competition" (archived copy) – Nationaldefensemagazine.org, 14 June 2013.
  12. Drwiega, Andrew. "Sikorsky-Boeing Announces JMR Defiant Team" MilTechMag, 9 April 2015.
  13. https://swiftengineering.com/swift-joins-sikorsky-boeing-defiant-team/
  14. Garrett Reim (9 Oct 2018). "Despite delays, SB-1 Defiant on track for 2018 first flight". Flightglobal.
  15. Mark Huber August 9, 2018. "Sikorsky Defiant Moves Closer To First Flight". AIN online.
  16. Greg Waldron (27 Dec 2018). "SB-1 Defiant breaks cover". Flightglobal.
  17. Garrett Reim (31 Jan 2019). "SB-1 Defiant starts ground run tests ahead of first flight". Flightglobal.
  18. "Defiant back in the air after 'bearing creep' issue found on test bed". Vertical Magazine. Retrieved 2019-11-26.
  19. Judson, Jen (14 October 2020). "Watch the SB-1 Defiant coaxial demonstrator aircraft hit 230 knots". Defense News.
  20. "Joint Multi-Role (JMR): The Technology Demonstrator Phase Contenders", Defense media network, 8 October 2013.
  21. Majumdar, Dave (14 September 2011). "X-2 Maxes Out in Medium-Sized Role". Defense News. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  22. Sikorsky-Boeing confident SB-1 Defiant won’t be the next Comanche – Flightglobal.com, 22 October 2013. Archived on 22 July 2014.
  23. Sikorsky-Boeing select T55 to power SB-1 Defiant demonstrator – Flightglobal.com, 19 June 2014. Archived on 1 July 2014.
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