S-97 Raider: Cutting-Edge Technologies in Army Aviation

Defence Turkey: Mr. Kokorda, first of all thank you very much for this Interview. How do you assess Sikorsky’s position in 2014? 

Sikorsky won four major contract awards during 2014 that will have a significant positive impact on our company. 

The first success made news around the world when we signed agreements with the Turkish government and key Turkish aerospace contractors. The agreements license Turkey’s aerospace industry to manufacture T-70 helicopters based on the Black Hawk aircraft. The resulting Turkish Utility Helicopter Program is a collective success for all involved, a true partnership that will last for at least 30 years. 

Sikorsky has helped countries build helicopters, but never before had we entered into partnership with a government and its aerospace industry to share critical technologies, or help design a new digital cockpit for those aircraft. 

We are confident that we have a winning formula. Your country’s growing defense industry is served by a skilled workforce whose workmanship is world class. In the international market, these agreements have rightly earned the attention they deserve.

The other three major successes of the year were contract awards from the U.S. Government. The U.S. Navy chose the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter to transport the President of the United States — the same aircraft that currently transports the Turkish Prime Ministry. The U.S. Air Force has asked us and our teammate Lockheed Martin to adapt the Black Hawk helicopter for the combat rescue mission, which means equipping the aircraft for longer range, and adding sensors and specialized communications and navigation systems. Later in the year, we and our team partner Boeing were selected by the U.S. Army to build and fly a medium-lift helicopter that will demonstrate our new X2 co-axial rotor design. 

Defence Turkey: What is your goal in 2015?

 A major goal this year is to fly two new aircraft. We are building a 5,000 kg light tactical helicopter called the S-97 Raider. We and our industry teammates in the United States are self-funding the effort to prove the capability of our X2 co-axial rotor design. The experimental aircraft features counter-rotating co-axial main rotors, with a pusher propeller in place of an anti-torque rotor. We expect this single engine aircraft will easily attain cruise speeds greater than 400 km/hr., and will outmatch conventional military scout helicopters in maneuverability, payload, and high altitude operations. 

For the U.S. Marine Corps, we are conducting final ground tests with the CH-53K heavy lift helicopter. The 39,916 kg maximum gross weight aircraft is designed to more than triple the external load carrying capacity of the CH-53E Super Stallion aircraft to more than 12,246 kg over a mission radius of 110 nautical miles. 

First flight of a new helicopter may happen every 10 years or so. For two events like this to happen in a single year is extraordinary.

Defence Turkey: How do you evaluate your export sales all over the world in 2014?

We experienced strong demand for our Black Hawk and Seahawk products last year. Some aircraft we sold direct to customers, others we sold via the U.S. Government’s Foreign Military Sales program. 

Interest in the Hawk and S-92 helicopters continues to grow in part because we are constantly developing new systems and capabilities that allow operators to fly these platforms with greater efficiency and reliability for multiple roles. One example is a weapons kit that will allow operators to quickly transform the Black Hawk helicopter into a sophisticated close air support platform.  

Defence Turkey: How do you evaluate your position amongst global defence industry companies?

We are incredibly fortunate to have a demanding military customer — the U.S. Government — which over the span of three generations has challenged us to develop a series of combat-survivable aircraft to the most rigorous quality and operational standards. 

International militaries who operate our Black Hawk and Seahawk helicopters know they have a reliable, maintainable and very survivable platform for a range of missions. Those same attributes increasingly are being applied to fire fighting and providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Defence Turkey: What will be your vision as Sikorsky Aircraft for the next decade? 

We will continue to innovate. Our Sikorsky Innovations division exists solely to take on the most difficult challenges facing the rotorcraft industry. 

Speed and autonomy are two key areas. Our X2 co-axial design has successfully addressed speed. Two X2-based aircraft are in development — the S-97 Raider light tactical helicopter, which will fly this year, and a larger version we are developing with Boeing called the SB-1 Defiant that will fly in 2017.

To address autonomous flight, we are developing systems to give large rotorcraft, like the ones we make, the intelligence to fly without pilots with a very high degree of safety and reliability. We are aiming to put a switch on the cockpit that will let operators fly with no pilots, one pilot or two pilots. Depending on the mission, the aircraft will be able to fly itself, perform as a virtual second pilot, or take on flight handling duties and situational awareness for two pilots, who now become mission managers. 

Defence Turkey: Could you please tell us about your R&D activities with autonomous systems?

Our goal is to improve the safety of autonomous aircraft by two orders of magnitude. Consider that small autonomous rotorcraft today crash about once every 1,000 flight hours. We intend to push the loss rate to once every 100,000 flight hours so that the risk for large rotorcraft becomes manageable and affordable. 

Last year, we acquired a retired Black Hawk helicopter as a test platform for our new autonomy software. Among other objectives, we will show how such an aircraft can carry cargo loads up to 4,000-kilograms to a destination, and then return, with minimal human oversight

Defence Turkey: Within the light of your road map, what is your approach to new products and new technologies?

Seventy-six years after Igor Sikorsky designed and flew the first single main rotor helicopter with an anti-torque tail rotor, we continue to view ourselves as a technology leader in the global rotorcraft industry. 

Co-axial main rotors and a pusher propeller will enable X2 aircraft to fly twice as fast as single main rotor aircraft, and be twice as maneuverable. That’s because we are bringing mature advanced components and systems together in a clever way, not because we have invented complex and expensive new technologies.  

We also intend to become much less reliant on the U.S. Government. Our investment in the X2 co-axial design is one example of our forward thinking. Our bold steps into the global marketplace, and our agreements with the Turkish Government and aerospace industry, also are indicative of this thinking. 

Defence Turkey: Could you please inform us about your state-of-art technologies “S-97 Raider” development phase and program schedule?

We expect to bring you news about Raider’s first flight very soon.  The flight will occur at our West Palm Beach facility in Florida. A second identical aircraft is expected to fly before the end of the year. With the second aircraft, we intend to demonstrate flight capability to the U.S. military in late 2016 and 2017.

Defence Turkey: What are your expectations of S-97 Raider in the global and homeland market?

We designed and built the S-97 Raider aircraft as a light tactical variant of our X2 co-axial design. We believe the U.S. Army will be best served to replace its 40-year-old fleet of Kiowa Warrior scout helicopters with an armed helicopter that brings a generation leap in capability to the battlefield. We believe strongly that the Raider helicopter will change the way that military aviators will fly and fight with helicopters. But first we have to demonstrate its flight capabilities.If you think this is an exciting time to work at Sikorsky, you’re right. 

Defence Turkey: Sikorsky unveiled the new CH-53K heavy lift helicopter, the King Stallion, on May 2014. Development phase of program is carried out by Sikorsky. Could you please share with us the program’s schedule?

Sikorsky is putting the new CH-53K heavy lift helicopter through a series of rigorous ground tests to ensure there are no surprises when we fly. At this time, we are producing a redesigned component for the main gear box. Once we have tested and qualified the solution, we will proceed with first flight and the extensive flight test program.

Defence Turkey: What is the position of Turkey within Sikorsky’s vision? Could you please give us an evaluation? 

The Turkish Utility Helicopter Program establishes a new supply chain for the Black Hawk platform. The program will enable the Turkish armed forces to source the entire T-70 helicopter from its own aerospace industry. A strong source for parts in the region will be attractive to new international buyers of Turkish-built S-70i aircraft.

Defence Turkey:The Sikorsky S-70i model helicopter, is to be produced in Turkey under a licence as a production model. Could you please inform us about the latest status of the Turkish Utility Helicopter Programme?

We expect the U.S. Government this year will approve export licenses for TUHP. Once approved, Sikorsky and TAI can begin implementing plans to build T-70 aircraft. We are also about to sign a Marketing Teaming Agreement with TAI. This agreement will identify how we jointly market Turkish-built S-70i Black Hawk aircraft to potential customers in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. 

Defence Turkey: What would you like to say regarding opportunities with non-governmental organizations, governmental organizations and public security agencies of Turkey?

We are in Turkey to stay. We very much hope to collaborate with all government organizations that need multi-role helicopters of different sizes — our S-92 heavy lift helicopter, Seahawk maritime helicopters, and the S-76D medium helicopter for VIP and emergency medical transport.

Defence Turkey:Could you please provide us some information about the other projects that Sikorsky is interested in Turkey?

Sikorsky is marketing a powerful fixed wing turboprop called the M28, which we build at our Poland facility. Special operations forces and commercial operators value this aircraft because it can land on unprepared runways, and can take off in just 548m with a full payload. 

Defence turkey: What will be the new technologies that you can offer to Turkey?

I am most excited about the potential direction that the growing Turkish defense industry could take with the T-70 and S-70i platforms as these aircraft come on line during the next decade. 

I expect that Turkish industry will innovate new capabilities and roles for these aircraft, both for your country’s own armed forces and for other militaries in the region. 

Could some of those capabilities find their way into aircraft operated by the U.S. military, which remains committed to Hawk helicopters for another 50 years? We’ll have to see. 

Defence Turkey: What progress have you made with helicopter autonomous flight?

We’ve made tremendous progress. We now have two dedicated test aircraft that allow our engineers to quickly evaluate in flight what they have developed in the laboratory. We aim to make autonomous flight with large helicopters a routine and safe prospect.

Defence Turkey: Would you like to add some remarks for Defence Turkey readers?

As you may be aware, our parent company United Technologies is conducting a study to determine whether to spin off Sikorsky Aircraft as an independent public company, or retain us within its portfolio.

Regardless of the outcome, Sikorsky will remain a financially strong $7 billion company. Having thrived for 93 years, we are investing for the future in different ways to ensure we will lead our industry into the 22nd century.