Why This New Attack Helicopter Is Expected To Be So Revolutionary
Story by Jonathan H. Kantor • 3h
The United States Army has a massive fleet of helicopters, one of which is the OH-58 Kiowa. The chopper was first introduced in the late 1960s, and the Army has been hard at work developing a replacement. One such effort was the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, which saw the development of two notable helicopters, the Bell 360 Invictus and the revolutionary Sikorsky Raider X, which was developed from the S-97 Raider.
The Army canceled FARA, abandoning plans to produce a replacement for the retired OH-58, leaving both choppers in limbo. Despite this, the Raider X lives on, and while the Army isn't a buyer, others are interested across the pond. The Raider X is designed to be highly agile and features a dual compound coaxial rotor system with a single pusher propeller. This design eschews those previously used in military helicopters operated by the U.S. by embracing advanced and more rigid rotor blades that increase maneuverability. It also boasts low-speed hover, level acceleration and braking, as well as off-axis hover capabilities.
The S-97 Raider features a similar design, and several prototypes were built. Sikorsky initially designed it for the Army's since-canceled Armed Aerial Scout program. The Raider X uses novel technologies intended to reduce overall maintenance requirements by enabling a self-monitoring maintenance reduction system. Because maintenance costs are one of the most expensive aspects of helicopter use in and out of the military, this is an ideal evolution of the tech.
The potential future for the Raider program
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