Originally Posted by
SansAnhedral
Its starting to sound like there is a power deficit with a single engine for both camps, however much more of a detriment for Raider X. There was even an unsolicited comment from Sikorsky in an interview regarding the Raider X cruising at 230 kts with a second engine, so if that isn't insight as to what is going on, I'm not sure what is.
The real issue for Sikorsky is that both they and Bell have already basically completed the demonstrator aircraft designed around a single engine……
Add a second engine on FARA, and you have a Boeing Apache replacement, not a Kiowa replacement (admittedly the original FARA spec is far from a Kiowa).
This will not make Boeing happy. With all the FARA specification changes, Boeing could rightly file a protest to request the FARA competition be reopened.
With the loss of FLRAA, Boeing Helicopter engineers have nothing left but upgrades to 50+ year old designs. To retain the capability to design new helicopters, this time around Boeing might invest in developing worthwhile proposal.