Brenda Marie Rivers
A team consisting of Boeing and Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky subsidiary is slated to conduct ground-based propulsion testing for its SB-1 Defiant compound helicopter after the aircraft completed its first three flights, Rotor and Wing reported Friday.
Jeff Brown, spokesman for Sikorsky, wrote in an email to the publication that the team plans to further develop Defiant’s endurance upon conducting propulsion system test bed activities with increased power loads. The team expects to expand the coaxial helicopter’s flight envelope or aerodynamic stability “later this summer," Brown noted.
Chris Van Buiten, vice president of innovation at Sikorsky, said the team aims to develop and fly Defiant in line with all of the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift program requirements.
The Boeing-Sikorsky team flew Defiant for the first time in March and intends to deploy the helicopter for the Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft effort.
