Originally Posted by
The RAF Taff
That video is about nine years old.
X2 has done its flights.
S-97 Raider (a bit bigger, armed scout sized bird) has had some test flights.
Defiant, a larger version, bigger than Blackhawk as I understand it, has not been completed for its first test flight. Though Valor (Bell V-280) is expected to get its first test flight this fall, Defiant is not going to be ready to do that. If they get Defiant off the ground then the real fun begins as the test program goes step by step: can it do what they hope it will do?
Those who know rotor heads tell me that as you scale up in size, you run into some serious design and performance issues with that dual, counter rotating rotor system. (Scaling problems among other things). We'll see if Sikorsky is able to solve those difficult problems or not.
If so, maybe it's in time to meet the 2025 window that appears to be the target.