Interesting tidbit I missed before... when Sikorsky Boeing unveiled Defiant-X in January, they said it was optimized for, "...speed where it matters". To me that seems to say, "No, we won't be as fast as we said we would be, but it's not important anyway. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain". What they seem to be trying to push everyone to focus on is how fast they promise they will be able to decelerate from whatever speed they do achieve while staying in a level attitude (have they actually demonstrated that in the nearly six years since S-97 first flight?) by putting the pusher in Beta.
Or am I reading too much in?