Update today. Sikorsky sounds nervous. Go to breakingdefense.com
“We’re flying it before we’re buying it,” McCarthy said this morning. “There’s nothing better than putting hours against the platform and learning.”
"The SB>1 Defiant compound helicopter has only 11 hours of flight testing, versus over 160 for Bell’s V-280 Valor"
"But what has the actual aircraft done in flight? Fell said that Defiant has flown backwards, sideways, banked at a 45-degree angle, and flown forward in level flight as fast as 150 mph (130 knots).
"But that’s not halfway to the 322 mph (280 knots) that the Army wants. Even the Army’s minimum requirement for top speed is 265 mph (230 knots).
"When will the Defiant fly at its top speed? “A few months,” Fell said. That’s a remarkably short timespan compared to how long it’s taken to get it this point."