Brenda Marie Rivers
A team that includes Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky subsidiary has reached a milestone for the SB-1 Defiant helicopter that serves as its bid for a U.S. Army program, National Defense Magazine reported Tuesday.
The Boeing-Sikorsky team conducted a flight test for Defiant at Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Fla. facility last week and saw the helicopter reach speeds of more than 200 knots.
The team is developing the compound helicopter for the Army’s future long-range assault aircraft initiative, in which Textron’s Bell subsidiary is also a competitor.
In February, the Boeing-Sikorsky team completed its fifth flight demonstration of Defiant for the Army. The service branch awarded contracts to Bell and the Boeing-Sikorsky team a month later to commence risk-reduction and competitive demonstration activities.
Jay Macklin, director of future vertical lift business development at Sikorsky, said going beyond the 200-knot mark for conventional helicopters is “critical to the holistic survivability†in a future combat environment and a significant milestone for the team.
The Army plans to deploy aircraft with the capacity to reach speeds of at least 230 knots, according to the report.
