Beyond The Black Hawk: Defiant Vs. Valor
After decades of R&D, the race to replace the UH-60 helicopter is entering its last few years.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on February 27, 2020 at 11:47 AM
The contenders for the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA): The Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 Defiant compound helicopter (top) and the Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor (bottom)
JUPITER, FLA.: Depending on who wins the contract to replace the iconic UH-60 Black Hawk, the Army’s next workhorse helicopter may not be a helicopter at all.
In one corner, doing aerial pirouettes over Sikorsky’s test center here last week to impress Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, we have the Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 Defiant. Defiant definitely looks like a helicopter, with its two rotors on top spinning in opposite directions, but look a little closer at the back. That’s not a conventional tail rotor for stability – with those counter-rotating main rotors, you don’t need one – but a pusher propeller, for speed. The combination, known as a compound helicopter, allows Defiant to reach velocities that are aerodynamically impossible for a conventional chopper. UH-60s max out around 185 mph (160 knots), but Defiant is designed to exceed 265 mph (230 knots).
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