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Updates From the Eurocopter X3 US Demo Tour & the Sikosky S-97 Raider Program

MegaZone — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 09:14:04 +0000

Eurocopter’s X3 compound helicopter demonstrator continues its US demo tour, and they continue to share videos from said tour. I still think it looks a bit strange, but I suppose people said the same thing about helicopters and tilt-rotors when the were new concepts too. But they’re really going to have to do something about the prop location on a production model, IMHO.

In this video we learn that ‘X3′ is pronounced ‘X-Cube’. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard that, I was mentally reading it as ‘X-Three’, of course.

Eurocopter isn’t the only vendor working on a compound helicopter, of course. Sikorsky continues to develop the S-97 Raider coaxial compound helicopter, based on their earlier X2 demonstrator. Each month they release a program update video, and the June release focuses on Esterline, one of the primary suppliers to the program.

Esterline is providing the Human/Machine Interface technology, which includes the cockpit flight displays and the HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) fly-by-wire flight controls (the cyclic and collective), as well as the control surface actuators for the elevators and rudders.

Eurocopter X3 Continues US Demo Tour

MegaZone — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:49:12 +0000

Following up on the first US flight of the X3 demonstrator in the skies over Texas, the official demonstration tour kicked off at American Eurocopter’s Grand Prairie facility today. The event featured not only a flight demonstration by the X3, but also a lineup of models from across the history of Eurocopter and the legacy companies that combined to form it. In order of appearance there was an EC225, an EC155 Dolphin, a USCG MH-65 Dolphin, two LUH-72 Lakota aitcraft destined for the US Army, an EC145, a BO105, an EC120, and reaching way back to 1955, an Alouette II flew alongside the X3 – the first and the latest.

As part of the events that day a special guest was taken up to experience the X3 first hand – Dario Franchitti, four?time reigning IZOD IndyCar Series Champion and three?time Indianapolis 500 Winner.

“The flight was really incredible,” said Mr. Franchitti after stepping out of the X3 onto the American Eurocopter runway. “Marc Paganini [President of American Eurocopter] and I had this joke that my Indy cars are faster than all of his helicopters, but I guess that they’ve fixed that one now! The X3 is now faster than the Indy cars. That says it all.”

X3 Over Texas

MegaZone — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 09:00:10 +0000

The Eurocopter X3 has kicked off it’s US demonstration tour in the skies over Texas. I understand the design just fine, but it still looks weird to me. In a production design I think they’d need to relocate the propellers; in their current location they really restrict approach and departure routes for passengers. You can really only come in from the aft quarters to avoid the props, and the risk of a wayward person wandering into a prop would be a lot higher than with a tail rotor. There’s also going to be some noise management to handle with the props right next to the passengers. That’s one thing Sikorsky’s X2 coaxial design has going for it; it is intended to use a single pusher prop at the end of the tail, well away from the passenger cabin.

Eurocopter X3 And NH90 Video Eye Candy

MegaZone — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 07:18:41 +0000

Eurocopter is bringing their X3 compound helicopter demonstrator, which I’ve mentioned previously, to the US, and they’ve released a couple of videos to promote the event. They give us a close look at the aircraft, which still looks weird to me with the stub wing mounted propellers, but it seems to perform well. In the first video we also get a little bit of a look at the massive Antonov An-124 which is apparently transporting the X3 to the US.

They’ve also posted a kind of highlight reel of their military NH90:

Two Paths Toward Future Helicopters

MegaZone — Tue, 29 May 2012 09:03:24 +0000

In the past few days both Eurocopter and Sikorsky have posted videos relating to their work on next generation rotorcraft concepts. Eurocopter was first in posting a video of their X3 compound helicopter in flight with the Airbus Military A400M transport. (Both Eurocopter and Airbus are EADS companies.) A compound helicopter is one with forward propulsion, and often stub wings to offload the rotor during forward flight. The X3 has two propellers mounted on the tips of a high-mounted stub wing.

Sikorsky on the other hand posted a video featurette on Liquid Measurement Systems, a small company that is one of the key suppliers to the S-97 Raider program. Like the X3, the S-97 is a compound helicopter, but Sikorsky is going a different route. While the X3 has a conventional main and tail rotor layout, the S-97 has a coaxial main rotor and a pusher propeller at the end of the tail. The S-97 is based on their record setting X2 technology demonstrator, which reached a speed of 250 knots in level flight.

The S-97 Raider is currently expected to fly in 2014. Sikorsky is developing it on their own in the hopes of interesting the US Army in it for the Armed Aerial Scout requirement to replace the aging OH-58 Kiowa fleet, since the previous Bell ARH-70 Arapaho program was cancelled for being over budget and behind schedule.