Sikorsky’s rotor blown wing UAS prototype in airplane mode. Photo: Sikorsky
Sikorsky on Monday detailed recent successful demonstrations with its “rotor blown wing” unmanned aircraft system (UAS), flying its prototype in both helicopter and “winged aircraft” mode through a “full mission profile.”
The work with the rotor blown wing UAS is continuing to inform Sikorsky’s continued development of a larger version for a separate DARPA program and as the company explores building a family of hybrid-electric advanced mobility systems.
“We are trying to find a very nice blend between helicopters’ ability to hover and operate from confined areas or small ship decks and have, quite frankly, handling qualities that allows us to operate from ship decks at high sea states…and couple that with the range and cruise efficiency of winged aircraft,” Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations, told reporters on Monday.
Sikorsky’s rotor blown wing UAS tech demonstrator is a 115-pound, twin prop-rotor prototype, which is designed to take off and land vertically like a helicopter and then can transition its rotors in-air to act as propellers in aircraft mode.
“Combining helicopter and airplane flight characteristics onto a flying wing reflects Sikorsky’s drive to innovate next-generation VTOL UAS aircraft that can fly faster and farther than traditional helicopters,” Rich Benton, Sikorsky’s vice president and general manager, said in a statement.
Sikorsky Innovations, the company’s rapid prototyping group, has been flying the prototype for “a little bit now,” according to Cherepinsky, before taking on the more extensive demonstrations in January
The January demos with the rotor blown wing UAS included conducting more than 40 takeoffs and landings, performing 30 transitions between helicopter and aircraft mode and reaching a top cruise speed of 86 knots, according to Sikorsky.
“[In January] is where the aircraft took off vertically on its tail, accelerated and flipped over into the wing [mode], achieving wing-borne flight, did a little bit of a mock mission and then transitioned back into vertical flight and landed successfully. And that pretty much proves the physics of what we are trying to do,” Cherepinsky said.
DARPA in May 2024 selected six companies to continue onto the risk reduction and component testing phase for its Advanced Aircraft Infrastructure-Less Launch and Recovery (ANCILLARY) program, to include Sikorsky as well as AeroVironment, Griffon Aerospace, Karem Aircraft, Method Aeronautics and Northrop Grumman.
Sikorsky has said DARPA’s ANCILLARY program aims “to develop a Class 3 UAS VTOL X-Plane that can operate in most weather conditions from ship decks and unprepared surfaces without infrastructure.”
Cherepinsky noted the January demos with the 115-pound demonstrator were part of Sikorsky’s internal research and development effort for the rotor blown wing UAS, while the work is informing continued efforts to develop a slightly larger 330-pound hybrid-electric version for the DARPA program.
The rotor blown wing UAS is one of several hybrid-electric VTOL concepts Sikorsky is pursuing as part of a family of new systems, along with new HEX VTOL platforms and a potential hybrid-electric, single main rotor helicopter.
Cherepinsky told reporters Sikorsky is now working through the “full design” of a HEX VTOL testbed and then plans to build two air vehicles, with the company planning to hold discussions with potential customers interested in the platform.
“We’re basically going to accelerate it as much as we can,” Cherepinsky said. “We will be making production decisions sometime in the next few years.”
Sikorsky last February detailed its HEX VTOL demonstrator, which includes a tilt-wing configuration for potential commercial and military applications, noting it had partnered with GE Aerospace to integrate a 1.2 megawatt-class turbogenerator into the platform. It’s intended to have an operating range of at least 500 nautical miles and 9,000-pound maximum gross weight and would utilize the company’s MATRIX autonomy software.
Cherepinsky last July also said Sikorsky is designing a larger version of its rotor blown wing UAS for an “undisclosed customer” that could be 2,000 to 3,000 pounds, telling reporters on Monday he could not disclose additional details “at this time.”
“But I can say the work is certainly still ongoing,” Cherepinsky added.
A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.