Sikorsky Boeing - The Future of Vertical Lift

Sikorsky Completes DARPA ALIAS Phase 2 Autonomous Flight

Sikorsky, - Fourth CH-53K Helicopter Completes First Flight

The fourth CH-53K helicopter successfully completed its first flight on August 31. The CH-53K will ultimately work with the U.S. Marine Corps as its heavy-lift helicopter to transport troops and equipment from ship to shore, more than tripling the load capacity of its predecessor.

Sikorsky BLACK HAWK helicopter

Sikorsky’s S-92® Helicopter Fleet Surpasses One Million Flight Hours

Bristow Group Flies a Sikorsky S-92® Helicopter Over the North Sea

Sikorsky Completes DARPA ALIAS Phase 1 Autonomous Flight

Sikorsky - CH-53K King Stallion Heavy Lift Helicopter First Hover Flight

Sikorsky Aircraft sold to Lockheed Martin for over $8 billion

Lockheed Martin Corp has agreed to buy United Technologies Corp's Sikorsky Aircraft for over $8 billion, two sources said on Sunday, cementing a deal that would confirm Lockheed's dominance in weapons making and giving the Black Hawk helicopter to the maker of the F-35 fighter jet.
The deal will add further heft to Lockheed, which already has annual revenues of around $45 billion and dwarves its nearest competitors, the defense business of Boeing Co and Northrop Grumman Corp .

It will make Lockheed less reliant on the $391 billion F-35 fighter jet business, while expanding its overseas sales by adding Sikorsky's iconic Black Hawk helicopters to a product line that already spans everything from satellites to naval ships.The two companies plan to announce the deal on Monday before both report second-quarter results on Tuesday, said the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly.It will be Lockheed's largest acquisition since it bought Martin Marietta Corp for about $10 billion two decades ago. It is the first major strategic move for both United Tech Chief Executive Officer Greg Hayes, who was elevated to CEO from finance chief in November, and Lockheed CEO Marillyn Hewson, who took her job in January 2013.United Technologies and Lockheed officials declined comment.

Textron Inc, parent of Bell Helicopter, had submitted a bid for Sikorsky, but dropped out of the bidding after the price rose, according to several sources familiar with the matter. Both helicopter makers have seen revenues drop due to lower demand from the oil and gas sector.
Pentagon officials last week said they would carefully evaluate any sale of Sikorsky, saying it was important to the department to maintain competition and avoid market distortions.
The U.S. Defense Department can object to a merger involving its key suppliers during a federal antitrust review, which in this case could be led by the U.S. Justice Department.

Industry executives do not expect antitrust objections since Lockheed does not build helicopters, but said U.S. officials could ask for certain written assurances given Lockheed's expanded scale.
"It's a big deal, but it doesn't concentrate markets any further than they already were," said Virginia-based defense consultant Loren Thompson. "There's no real overlap between the fighter market and the rotorcraft market. They're discrete markets with different customers and users."

Lockheed is also looking to shed some of its lower-margin services businesses, which could help lower revenues in coming months, according to several sources familiar with the matter.
Industry executives have long predicted further consolidation in the U.S. defense market after a massive contraction in the 1990s after the Cold War. The only sector that had remained largely unscathed was the helicopter market. Boeing, which makes CH-47 Chinook helicopters and works with Bell on the V-22, has already teamed up with Sikorsky to develop a next-generation helicopter for the U.S. military.

UTC in March said it would explore alternatives for Sikorsky, which accounted for $7.5 billion in sales last year out of total UTC revenues of $65 billion. In June, it said it would exit the helicopter business and sell or spin off Sikorsky, which expects slower revenue growth and has lower profit margins than other UTC divisions.

Sikorsky's fit with United Tech, which also makes Pratt & Whitney jet engines and Otis elevators, had been long debated on Wall Street.Sikorsky's first-quarter operating profit dropped 11 percent on a 7 percent fall in sales. In June, the unit announced 1,400 job cuts and said it would consolidate facilities.The price of the acquisition was inflated by a huge tax bill facing UTC since Sikorsky's value has appreciated so much since it became part of United Tech in 1929.UTC could use the funds for other large acquisitions, although the CEO has said the high valuations of targets have made potential transactions expensive.

Lockheed decided to proceed with the deal, despite the hefty price tag, because it views Sikorsky as a "signature company" that will ensure strong revenues in the medium term, when F-35 production begins to taper off, according to two of the sources.Lockheed and Sikorsky already work together on several major helicopter programs, including the presidential helicopter, a combat rescue helicopter and the MH-60R- and S-model helicopters built for the Navy and Marine Corps.

Sikorsky's strong foreign sales would help Lockheed expand its international footprint, said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with the Virginia-based Teal Group."It's a great business for them to own. In addition to the F-35 and the C-130J, Sikorsky is another great brand for them to underpin their defense strategy," he said.Lockheed is keen to preserve the Sikorsky brand, the sources said, which means the company may well allow Sikorsky to continue functioning as a standalone business instead of integrating it into its already huge Aeronautics division, which had revenues of over $14 billion last year.Other big aerospace companies, including Italy's Finmeccanica SpA, Europe's Airbus and Textron Inc, allow their helicopter businesses to operate as separate units.

Pilot Commentary of S-97 RAIDER - First Flight

Sikorsky S 97 RAIDER Begins Ground Runs

Sikorsky Aircraft: Groundbreaking and Innovative

A Look Back at the BLACK HAWK

Official Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER™ Rollout Video

Sikorsky S-97™ RAIDER™ Helicopter

Game-changing X2™ technology for future tactical missions.

S-97 RAIDER Rollout Event Highlights

The Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER Unveiled

From the rollout ceremony at our West Palm Beach, Florida facility. The moment the next big thing in Army aviation is introduced  - The Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER

Sikorsky to Produce New Combat Rescue Helicopters

Sikorsky Aircraft, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., has been awarded a U.S. Air Force contract to develop new combat search and rescue helicopters. Sikorsky will develop a derivative of the UH-60M BLACK HAWK model for the Air Force’s rescue mission.

The award of an estimated $1.28 billion Engineering & Manufacturing Development (EMD) contract includes development and integration of the rescue mission systems; delivery of four Combat Rescue Helicopters; as well as seven aircrew and maintainer training systems. Initial training of Air Force aircrew and maintainers and five Combat Rescue Helicopters are also expected to be delivered by 2020, once additional aircraft and training options are exercised. This contract is the first step in the eventual production and fielding of up to 112 aircraft with a potential value of approximately $7.9 billion. Eventual production quantities would be determined year-by-year over the life of the program, based on funding allocations set by Congress and the U.S. Department of Defense acquisition priorities.

The Air Force announced in 2010 that it would replace its aging HH-60G PAVE HAWK helicopters. Sikorsky, joined by Lockheed Martin as the major subsystems supplier, offered a UH-60M derivative to replace the venerable PAVE HAWK, also made by Sikorsky, as the Air Force’s new Combat Rescue Helicopter. The aircraft features increased internal fuel capability, compared with today’s HH-60G helicopter, thereby giving the CRH-60 the required range, while increasing its internal cabin space.
Like the UH-60M helicopter, the aircraft will feature T700-GE-701D engines, composite wide-chord main rotor blades, and fatigue- and corrosion-resistant machined aero-structures to sustain maneuverability at high density altitudes.

S-97 RAIDER™ Helicopter Powered On for First Time As Next-Gen Rotorcraft Moves Closer to First Flight

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. press release



 Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. today announced it has turned on electrical power for the first time to the S-97 RAIDER™ prototype helicopter, signaling successful installation of the avionics system and a major step toward completing the assembly of the new – and first – light tactical rotorcraft featuring X2 Technology™. Sikorsky is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).

The key milestone on the first of two aircraft planned to be built in the RAIDER program took place May 28, 2014, at Sikorsky’s Development Flight Center where the aircraft is being assembled. The successful powering on means that the cockpit multifunction displays and control display unit (CDU) are operational, as are the CDU controlled electronic circuit breakers. The aircraft will undergo electrical power and avionics Acceptance Test Procedures (ATPs) for the next several weeks, to complete the checkout of the remaining avionics, electrical, and flight control systems.

http://www.sikorsky.com/About+Sikorsky/News/Press+Details?pressvcmid=28ec91bc074a6410VgnVCM1000004f62529fRCRD

Sikorsky Black Hawk Helicopter Manned Unmanned Resupply Aerial Lifter

Foreign Militaries Eye Sikorsky S-97 Raider

It hasn’t even flown yet and the U.S. Army program it was intended for was put on hold, possibly indefinitely.But that hasn’t stopped foreign militaries from inquiring about when they might be able to buy the Sikorsky S-97 Raider, the company’s next-generation light-attack helicopter. The coaxial design features counter-rotating rotor blades and a push propeller, among other innovations, that will allow it to fly much faster and farther than today’s choppers.

Steve Engebretson, director of advanced military programs for Sikorsky, part of Hartford, Conn.-based United Technologies Corp., didn’t specify which militaries are interested in purchasing the Raider, but hinted that they’re closely watching the company’s self-funded technology development project.You can go to any of the major helicopter users around the world and we have talked to probably almost all of them,” he said on Tuesday at the Army Aviation Association of America’s annual conference, known as Quad A. “Some have more money. Some have more curiosity. Some have a greater need.”

Unfortunately for those with available funding, when the U.S. government might approve the product for export is unknown because the American military hasn’t yet decided to buy the aircraft. As Engebretson explained while standing near a full-scale model of the S-97 on the showroom floor, “It’s very difficult to export a next-generation capability if the U.S. doesn’t have it first.”

The Raider was designed to target a potentially $16 billion Army weapons program called the Armed Aerial Scout to develop a replacement for the OH-58 Kiowa Warrior, the smallest aircraft in the U.S. fleet. Due to automatic budget cuts, the service stopped the acquisition effort.Engebretson said the program was “put on acquisition hold,” but not canceled outright, according to recent congressional testimony from Army Secretary John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno.The company and its 30-some suppliers have spent tens of millions of dollars designing and developing coaxial technology. Sikorsky is building two Raiders, one of which is slated to fly for the first time later this year from the company’s developmental flight center in West Palm Beach, Fla., Engebretson said. He didn’t specify a date, but said most of the flight testing will take place in 2015.

Sikorsky in 2010 and 2011 flew an experimental prototype of the design called the X2 that reached speeds of up to 250 knots, or 290 miles per hour. By comparison, the Kiowa Warrior has a top speed of about 120 knots, or 140 miles per hour.“She was a beauty, but she was straight and fast, and that’s all that aircraft was built to do — to prove the physics of combining a rigid rotor system with a push rotor,” Engebretson said. “Raider will now not only go fast, but as you can see we’re going to hang mock weapons on it. We’re going to represent the weight and drag of a combat aircraft — even though it won’t be real sensors and real weapons — and then we’re going to take it through real maneuvers.”

The goal is to show the U.S. military what’s possible with the technology in any size helicopter, Engebretson said. Sikorsky has also teamed with Boeing Co., which helps make the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, in offering the SB>1 Defiant, a larger coaxial design, for the Army’s Joint Multi-Role technology demonstrator program, or JMR.While Sikorsky’s investment in the Raider and X2 technology represents a “huge industry commitment,” the result will only be prototypes, Engebretson noted. “This is not a production platform,” he said. “Whoever the first customer is has to be capable of funding and supporting a production development program.”



http://www.dodbuzz.com/2014/05/07/foreign-militaries-eye-sikorsky-s-97-raider/