Originally Posted by
SplineDrive
Plenty of us expect that the final FARA production proposal will allow twin ITE configurations, which will enable more powerful aircraft with greater growth potential... and definitely butt up against upgraded Apache capabilities. So regardless of how well (or not) Raider-X's competitive prototype flies, Sikorsky would once again be looking at scaling up an aircraft from demonstrator to production and having to answer questions about X-2 scalability. The S-97 is NOT an 80% scale model of a twin ITE FARA. I suspect it's closer to a 50% scale by gross weight.
The Defiant X used two 5000 shp Lycoming T55 engines. Growth was slated to go to 7500 shp.
S97 9000 lbs gvw 2600 shp
S97X 16000 lb gvw 3000 shp
Invictus ?gvw 3600 shp
525 21000 lb gvw 3600 shp
Apache 18000 lb gvw 4000 shp
S97X twin engine ?gvw 6000 shp
Defiant X 30000 lb gvw 15000 shp
Invictus with 2 crew capability, weighs less than the Bell 525 with its 19 passenger capability. It will have the same total engine hp. It should have no problem exceeding the Army minimum speed requirement.
Raider X did not get enough engine to match the original S97 power to weight ratio. Not that the max speed demonstrated by the S97 was that special.
A twin engine FARA would have 6000 shp using the GE engine.