{"id":1959,"date":"2026-03-07T07:38:43","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T05:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1959"},"modified":"2025-12-31T18:45:34","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T16:45:34","slug":"sikorsky-proves-out-rotor-blown-wing-drone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/?p=1959","title":{"rendered":"Sikorsky proves out \u2018rotor blown wing\u2019 drone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Through extensive flight tests earlier this year,\u00a0Lockheed Martin\u2019s Sikorsky<\/a>\u00a0has proven the capability of a \u201crotor blown wing\u201d unmanned aircraft system that can fly like a helicopter or an airplane, the company announced Monday.<\/p>\n

The drone is a 115-pound, battery-powered twin prop-rotor aircraft that the company said can be scaled larger, \u201crequiring hybrid-electric propulsion.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The company designed the vertical take-off and landing aircraft to \u201cfly faster and farther than traditional helicopters,\u201d Rich Benton, Sikorsky\u2019s vice president and general manager, said in a statement.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The drone development took place over the course of a year with the company\u2019s rapid prototyping group \u2013 Sikorsky Innovations \u2014 moving through preliminary design, simulation and tethered and untethered flight.<\/p>\n

In January 2025, Sikorsky Innovations successfully completed more than 40 take-offs and landings with the 10.3-ft composite wingspan aircraft, according to the statement. Sikorsky said the aircraft also performed 30 transitions between helicopter and airplane modes, calling it the \u201cmost complex maneuver demanded of the design.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The drone also reached a top cruise speed of 86 knots.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cOur rotor blown wing has demonstrated the control power and unique handling qualities necessary to transition repeatedly and predictably from a hover to high-speed wing-borne cruise flight, and back again,\u201d Igor Cherepinsky, Sikorsky Innovations director, said. \u201cNew control laws were required for this transition maneuver to work seamlessly and efficiently. The data indicates we can operate from pitching ships decks and unprepared ground when scaled to much larger sizes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company envisions future applications for the aircraft in search and rescue, firefighting monitoring, humanitarian response efforts and pipeline surveillance, the statement notes.<\/p>\n

Larger versions could perform long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and manned-unmanned teaming.<\/p>\n

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Sikorsky will incorporate its MATRIX flight autonomy system<\/a> in all variants of the drone, according to the statement.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The company is also developing a 1.2-megawatt hybrid-electric tilt wing demonstrator called HEX that is large enough to carry passengers or cargo on longer-haul flights.<\/p>\n

Sikorsky plans to demonstrate HEX\u2019s hover capability in 2027.<\/p>\n

Sikorsky\u2019s technological advancements over the last year come on the heels of the U.S. Army\u2019s abrupt cancellation of its\u00a0Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft, or FARA.<\/a>\u00a0The company was competing for the program with a coaxial rotor blade aircraft called\u00a0Raider X.<\/a><\/p>\n

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The company had, over a year prior to the cancellation, lost the Army\u2019s other future aircraft competition<\/a>\u00a0to Bell. Sikorsky and its Boeing teammate had submitted another larger version of Raider X called\u00a0Defiant<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Since then, Sikorsky hasn\u2019t scrapped the promise of its X2 coaxial helicopter technology and continues to pitch it to other potential customers. The company is pursuing a next-generation helicopter for Italy and the NATO Next-Generation Rotorcraft Capability, among others. Lockheed, Airbus and Leonardo were awarded contracts in July 2024 to help NATO develop a new helicopter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through extensive flight tests earlier this year,\u00a0Lockheed Martin\u2019s Sikorsky\u00a0has proven the capability of a \u201crotor blown wing\u201d unmanned aircraft system that can fly like a helicopter or an airplane, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,28],"tags":[434,433],"class_list":["post-1959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-air","category-military-tech","tag-frones","tag-sikorsky"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sikorsky.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1959"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2138,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1959\/revisions\/2138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}