SB>1 Defiant completes initial ground run tests
The Sikorsky Boeing SB>1 Defiant helicopter has completed its initial ground run and is being ground tested before its first flight.
The helicopter is being developed as part of the US Army’s Joint Multi-Role-Medium Technology Demonstrator programme. It will help inform the next generation of military helicopters as part the US Department of Defense’s approach to Future Vertical Lift.
The SB>1 Defiant has been designed to fly at twice the speed and range of today’s conventional helicopters and offers advanced agility and manoeuvrability. The medium-lift helicopter is configured to Sikorsky’s X2 coaxial design. The aircraft will feature counter-rotating rigid main rotor blades for vertical and forward flight, a pusher propeller for high-speed acceleration and deceleration and an advanced fly-by-wire flight control system.
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