PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Sikorsky SB-1 flies for first time
View Single Post
Old 14th Jan 2020, 07:43
  #132 (permalink)  
The Sultan
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Arlington, Tx. US
Posts: 696
Likes: 0
Received 11 Likes on 7 Posts
SB-1’s Time Has Expired

Comments made by senior govt officials indicate that the SB-1 has run out of time without doing much more than hover. Quote from Defense News:

While the SB-1 logged much less in flight time than the V-280, the Army has determined it has enough data to move forward on its FLRAA program rather than extend the JMR TD to wait for the Sikorsky-Boeing team to log equivalent hours to its competitor Bell.
As there have been no reports that the SB-1 has exceeded even 20 kts at the end of the JMR-TD the data the Army has gathered supports a conclusion that the tilt rotor can meet or exceed all program goals while the ABC concept is plagued with multiple limitations that will keep it from being a viable platform.

Full Article:

https://www.defensenews.com/land/202...ive-down-risk/
The Sultan is offline