Originally Posted by
The Sultan
https://verticalmag.com/news/defiant...lestones-2020/
More gaslighting from the Sikorsky-Boeing
PR team. Apparently their definition of
roaring through milestones are:
1. Flying only 26 hours in 20 months at the most benign gross weight/cg.
2. Achieving a pathetic top speed in level flight of 211 knots against an original target of near 250 knots (later reduced to 230 knots which they still could not achieve).
3. Not flying any gross weight/altitude/range expansion flights.
They also state t
he team is putting "the final touches on an official pitch to replace the U.S. Army’s long-serving UH-60 Black Hawks." So they admit they have completed all they can do with the SB-1, even though they were given a govt funded one year extension to the FLRAA demo program deadline to try to make it appear they were a viable alternative to the 300Kt++ Bell V-280, It appears their plan is to lobby the Army to water down the FLRAA speed/range requirements so much that even the SB-1 could meet them. If that fails I expect them to no bid the program and try to get FLRAA cancelled because there are not two competing for the development contract.
Well, I was too optimistic when it came to predictions of last quarter progress for SB>1. I’m sure they’ll declare success if they ever reach 230 knots, but success should be measured against the engineering performance targets, which were well in excess of that. If Defiant can’t reach their intended design Vh by the next contract phase award in March, why should they get money to continue? Two years to not reach Vh is more than enough time. Raider hasn’t made Vh in 5.5 years of flying.