Read up a bit on the proposed new step in helicopter military hardware (video clip), to be developed from the Sikorsky X-2 prototype, if they can scrape together the dough and the buyers, unlike with the RAH-66 Comanche fiasco.
Interesting that the merely the current test platform is the fastest helicopter ever (250 knots/290 mph/460 km/h) even without redlining the engine. With tweaking and souping-upping, the future Mk.I should fly even faster. Twin rotors and an aft propeller, reminds me of those strange Nazi prototype aircraft they love to talk about on the History channel, inbetween "Hitler's Henchmen", "Hitler's Girlfriends" and "Hitlers BFFs".
Now yes, of course Sikorsky, Boeing, Raytheon and all these other Weyland-Yutani wannabes are big evil entities devoid of compassion and hope, whose lobbyists make money from suffering and also in their spare time sit at home and write new unkillable internet pop-up ads, but there is no question that the toys they come up with make for flight simulator content and Transformers-movie scene filler.
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There are several things I found noteworthy about this thing. The rotor/propeller layout changes the flight envelope and movement range entirely, basically creating the need for an entirely new flight doctrine.
The pushing motion of the aft prop gives the S-97 the rigid movement of a dragonfly (who also has two sets of "props" for stability): where an ordinary chopper has to lean forwards or backwards to work up momentum, this thing could arguably pounce and halt on a dime with minimal vertical tilt, if the aft prop has enough torque and can go in reverse (or rotate the blade angle). The small aft prop must be what gives the S-97 its eery insectoid, almost "beehive" sound, you can hear it in the videos.
My second point of interest is the aesthetics. The (current) shape of the X-2/S-97 is of course simply decided by its component layout and wind tunnel tests, but it inadvertently gives the S-97 the silhouette reminiscent of the earliest helicopter designs ever made, which is doubly weird, revolutionary and retro at the same time.
The future will decide if it will be picked up (and then ceremoniously copied by Russia and China as with the F-22), but what I find most fascinating is that vehicle concepts like this have been used in sci-fi movies and comics for a long time, like Akira, Patlabor and Ghost In The Shell, as well as other media (Dune's slender ornithopters, Command & Conquer's GDI Orcas). I see different helicopters like this, both futuristic and steampunk, being dreamed of on both Concept Ships and Concept Robots every month, and now, well...there it sits.
Paint it glossy black, put blue light cords along its belly and you got yourself a passable Tessier-Ashpool attackship.
Also, the S-97 would probably be armed with Hydra 70 or CRV7 rocket pods, as shown in concept art and on the scale model. The Hydra 70 and CRV7 are straight-shooting ballistic rockets first made in the 1940's and 60's respectively. It seems both of them have just recently been upgraded with working guidance systems, which would make the S-97 able to shoot just like the Orca from C&C.
Guided "mini"-rockets would also compensate a lot for its lack of a gun turret, which I guess would offset the weight distribution and aerodynamics anyway, and would perhaps be awkward and impractical to aim and fire at 290 mph. For those of you who can't relate to that speed, compare it with the 160 mph of the AH-1Z Viper and the AH-64D Apache, both of whom also have a "never-exceed" speed of 220 mph.
Judging by the shape of the canopy, it's perhaps being built as a scout and recon unit from the ground up, no turret needed.
Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
The side door opens onto the side rockets? Er...that could be problematic. Hmmm...maybe slide the side rockets out some (or back some) and give it a side door gunnery position (though that would have to retact in, with the door closed really for high speeds, I guess).
I like it overall- it's real tiny compared with an Apache- looks crazy light- but it needs skis on some version instead of those low clearance wheels.
I'm sure the final product will be much changed- military contractors loooove adding on the extras.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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