Strap in and take flight with Chief Test Pilot Bill Fell in the S-97 RAIDER, our flying testbed for the U.S. Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program.
Love the look of this bird! All the promises of the Cheyenne have come true. Material science and computing power have caught up to the dreams of yesterday and made them reality.
Definitely has some of those early elements of a revolutionary design of the time. We definitely had some amazing ideas in the 60s that were so far ahead of our capability to make them or to realize what they could fully do.
@@janusprime5693 It depends what kind of drone you are referring to? If it is a VTOL drone, anything in a range from the MQ-8 Fire Scout to a Mavic quadcopter, having a manned platform brings more flexibility (until AGI takes over anyway). If you are talking about fixed-wing drones, something like the S-97 can hover and also hug the ground at very low levels in high speed flight. Those two capabilities make the S-97 harder to engage and destroy, both from the air and ground.
@@torkilsd The S-97 in it's present size and configuration could only be a specialized assualt transport, maybe accomodating a fire team of roughly 4 soldiers. A UH-60 can accomodate well over a squad (9-12 soldiers), with room for 2 additional crewmen to man the door machine guns. So at best it could be a kind of hybrid attack/assault helicopter, like the Mi-24.
I was a helicopter mechanic in the mid 90s on the SH 60 bravos made by Sikorsky, never in 1 million years would I have thought technology would have come this far. Absolutely amazing.
A great Sikorsky designed new technology,, long before Lockheed was involved at Sikorsky,,, it actually had its genesis as a concept design as far back as late 70’s,,, the people of Sikorsky in CT don’t have much more to prove to the US armed services and coast guards world wide, now over 50 years of Sikorsky technology we have saved lives, abroad in battle fields and civil aviation Search and Rescue operations,, the US payers deserve this legacy for the future !!
That is an amazing aircraft. I see lots of potential. It would work perfect for Life Flight Medical services around the country. How about the Coast Guard? Much quicker response times and making more of a victims "Golden Hour" longer. Still I love it. As a retired Fire Chief and practicing with Coast Guard in my area on the coast with Lakes as well, the S-97 should be possibly considered as the program continues. Be safe everyone. 😊
go do your homework and don't go into military topics if you don't understand! maneuverability he want... most important thing in aircraft is electronic warfare, not mAnEuvErAbiLity
If you're trying not to get hit by missiles, maneuverability is almost the least useful aspect your vehicle has. No matter how maneuverable your vehicle is, a tiny missile is going to be significantly more maneuverable. It's going to pull more g's than you can because there aren't any squishy humans inside to die when it pulls too many g's
You cannot out G a missle, but you can jam it, do ECM, etc, as @ай, как сложно said. Defeating a missle is much more complex than turning, the main reason aircraft turn so much when they're being chased by a missle is to run the missle out of energy, get it turning and moving around so it will bleed speed. The Grim Reapers did a great vid on it - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SUmJmKvjxCg.html That should put you at the correct part in the vid.
It's great to see the legendary Sikorsky's legacy continue on. He was unironically one of the best aircraft designers of the Russian Empire, yet left after the revolution and made his name after he moved to America.
So is the S-97 going to be the next standard for military helicopters? Her maneuvers look smooth and graceful and she is amazingly still when hovering.
The upcoming Blackhawk replacement will likely be Bell's V280 tiltrotor unless the program gets cancelled, though Boeing-Sikorsky have an up-scaled version of this called the SB-1 Defiant that's also been competing. The S97 raider here was originally developed as a replacement for the now retired Kiowa scout helicopter, but that's likely not going to happen with the cost-effectiveness, low maintenance, and virtually disposable nature of drones like the Shadow and Predator. I think only two prototypes have flown, both on the industry's dime While the army probably isn't likely to adopt a new scout helicopter for the reasons above, the Raider would likely excel in SOF applications as an MH/AH-6 replacement, provided there's any way to make enough room in the back for 4-6 guys. Given the low-noise emissions this coaxial system advertises and the high airspeeds / combat radius the pusher-prop allows, I'd be really surprised if Sikorsky wasn't already going this route.
I hope this is one chosen to replace current platforms. It really is a work of art. Only question will be; because you know congress and the forces working to dismantle America will focus on the price. How much does one cost? How much to maintain etc?
You have to admit post 9/11, the forever wars are the gift that keeps on giving if you're the defence industry. Countries ( rich in natural resources) who oppose/defy Western imperial ambitions its the nightmare that never ends.
They probably have thought about the weapons platform and it would make sense to have it internal to help with drag. It could be both depending on what can be loaded. Still a very cool aircraft. Thank you to those who have served in the military and our first responders. Be safe everyone.
The contest between Valor & Defiant was for future helicopter. Defiant is helicopter. Valor is plane with vtol capabilities. Defiant can replace Apache. I can't see Valor replacing Apache.
From the mock ups it has a 20 or 30 mm chain-gun on the nose. It has 2 internal weapon bays in the fuselage that each have 1 hardpoint for things like rockets or missiles. If it only keeps the 2 hard points and not the ones on the wings it would have half the munitions the Apache can carry. It can also remove those internal weapons and put 6 seats for troops in it.
I love the look and performance of this technology at the size of the S-97. But when you scale it up to the SB>1 it looks wrong. Anybody else think so?
I gotta agree with you on that one. I like tilt rotors in general but the Defiant looks clunky. Although looks don't really matter in a military aircraft XD.
Scout Helicopter pilots can fly low enough to lean out the side of the helicopter and use trackers tricks to see if people have been through an area. Broken foliage, foot prints, campsites, etc. Now they can just lean the helicopter forward lol!
i am excited for whenever the t-901 engine for the Raider X prototype is ready, then we can see how the S-97's larger sibling handles and such, i am confident it will get the FARA contract over the Bell Invictus should everything work!
You are going to need a Half round guard or a quarter round guard below the rear forward trust propeller when landing in rough terrain because the rear propeller is too low and can hit terrain easily say a tree log or a metal fence bar and can easily be damaged since it is so low to the ground. Although the trust rotor is not turning during landing it can still hit something and gets damage causing major vibrations causing the tail to break off in flight!! May have to redsign rear trust rotor fuselage and raise it up higher as far as it can go.! Were as in present helicopters the tail rotor is much higher up and has no such issues.
My perspective, focusing on the coaxial engineering alone would have made the prototype more appealing. As put forward with so many design & engineering features it’s like an Army version of a Gerald Ford carrier. Too much innovation all at once. Also personal aesthetic appeal is more for symmetric parallel main rotors vice the stacked coaxial arrangement.
Tbh this looks to have about the same maneuverability as the russian ka-52 as that also contains contra rotating props, however the sikorsky chopper looks a hell of a lot faster
I hope that FARA survives Congressional scrutiny. The Russo-Ukranian conflict has put the future of attack and scout helicopters in doubt, but this happened because the Russians tried to operate over contested airspace, even deep behind enemy lines. The South Vietnamese struggled to use attack helicopters correctly and too many were shot down by Northern forces. Yet in Iraq and Afghanistan, helicopters performed extremely well. Even now the Russian Ka-52 is redeeming itself during the Ukranian counter offensive in Zaporozhia. The Army needs to prove that this helicopter can thrive in an environment similar to what the Apaches faced in Operation Anaconda at high altitude in Afghanistan and leverage it's internal bay for more than just attack roles. I believe that the capability to carry at least 6 troops internally will give RaiderX the edge over the Invictus, along with it's superior speed, handling, and lower noise signature. I think that Sikorskey lost the FLRAA competition because they had been developing the FARA aircraft first and were caught flatfooted when the Army declared that they wanted the Blackhawk replacement before the Kiowa replacement. Honestly, the army should have picked Raider when it competed the first time instead of scrapping the program altogether and now reviving it.
Wrong - The bigger Raider X is being built now as a Competitive Prototype for the Army Future Attack Reconaissance Aircraft. X2 technology has some real advantages for the scout/attack mission.
@@helowriterseahawk7470 If I have me understanding correct, the “bigger aircraft” your referring to is the Defiant X, which is what Sikorsky submitted against Bell’s V-280 Valor, which Sikorsky lost. The Raider X will be competing against Bell’s 360 Invictus which I believe a winner will be selected towards the end of 2023.
The army chose the Valor. The Valor had almost triple the combat range of the Raider which is probably why it was chosen. A derivative of the raider is still competing to replace the OH-58 Kiowa though.
You guys are thinking of the wrong program. The Raider is in the FARA program against the Invictus for an Apache replacement (at least half of the Apaches would be replaced). The Defiant was against the Valor for the FLRAA program to replace the Blackhawk and the valor won that program. The FARA program isn't decided and has had delays due to the engine being delayed.
@@raptor9777 You guys are thinking of the wrong program. The Raider is in the FARA program against the Invictus for an Apache replacement (at least half of the Apaches would be replaced). The Defiant was against the Valor for the FLRAA program to replace the Blackhawk and the valor won that program. The FARA program isn't decided and has had delays due to the engine being delayed.
