Sikorsky Press Release
In a move that underscores Sikorsky's commitment to the civil marketplace, go-ahead has been has been announced on future product improvements for the S-76.
"The S-76 has represented Sikorsky's entry in the civil marketplace for the last 20 years and has maintained its reputation as the best helicopter in its class through constant improvement," said Tommy Thomason, Sikorsky Vice President of Civil Programs. "In parallel with S-92 certification, Sikorsky is committed to maintaining the technical and operational leadership of the S-76 by bringing in practical and proven technology and innovative support concepts to be fielded with the S-92.
"The strengths of the S-76 have been its unparalleled safety record, balanced performance, reliability, low operating cost and large cabin that excels for so many applications. Our plan is to insert the latest technology available from our other product lines in a way that enhances these strengths and maintains the S-76 as the customers' clear choice for its size class," Thomason said.
Paul Martin, Sikorsky's Vice President of Engineering, pointed to the technologies involved. "With the technology being incorporated on the S-92 and COMANCHE, and on new international offerings of the BLACK HAWK and its derivatives, Sikorsky has demonstrated a portfolio of improvements that can be applied to the S-76. Those chosen are the ones that bring the most value to our customers," he said.
The improvements taking place were selected by analyzing potential changes in the context of how they would most cost effectively satisfy customer requested features. Among the candidate improvements, the following were considered the most attractive and form the basis for the planned program:
Uprated Engine - Certification of the Turbomeca Arriel 2S2 with approximately 6% more power than the current 2S1. Thomason noted that the 2S2's increased power will be used not only for performance enhancement, but to assure the engine remains in service until the TBO limit is reached: "We are working closely with Turbomeca to see that the 2S2 is designed and demonstrated to achieve maximum durability in the S-76," Martin said.
Integrated Cockpit -- The new cockpit will have flat panel liquid crystal displays, digital data bus architecture and rack adaptability to incorporation of optional equipment. The BFG HUMS will be an integral feature of this new design and the Sikorsky Integrated Customer Support System. Differential GPS navigation with automatic approach to hover will be an option.
Quiet Tail Rotor -- This design incorporates an advanced airfoil design with swept tip and flush fastener attachments. It has been tested and flown to demonstrate its performance and acoustic characteristics. The advanced airfoil provides improved aerodynamic efficiency permitting the rotational speed to be slowed to further enhance its acoustics. This feature will be retrofitable to S-76 aircraft currently in service.
Improved Comfort Interior -- Improved cabin comfort is to be achieved by a to-be-selected combination of passive noise suppression, Active Vibration Control (AVC), Active Noise Control (ANC) and a low noise main transmission. AVC has been developed and successfully tested on the S-92 and is directly applicable to the S-76. It consists of vibration sensors, a computer, power amplifier, and shaker assemblies. The basic approach is to create an out-of-phase vibration that cancels the vibration caused by the helicopter dynamic systems. A production design Active Noise Control system will be flown this year for evaluation. The improved low noise transmission would employ advanced COMANCHE gear designs that have proven their noise reduction capability.
The selected product improvements on the S-76 are tentatively planned for certification and introduction in 2004. Trade studies continue for definition of an affordable and retrofittable de-ice system based on the S-92 design.
More than 500 S-76 helicopters have been produced and are in operation worldwide with customers in more than 40 countries.