Sikorsky X-2

[Yeoman_dai]

Cheaper alternative to the V22

First Flight Of Sikorsky X2 Demonstrator | AVIATION WEEK

looks good, to me!

[BossEyed]

The X2 first flew in August 2008. This is old info.

It is a dedicated company technology demonstrator, and is nowhere near ready for production; the X-2 system design has no military utility whatsoever and hence can hardly be called an alternative to the V-22. As for cheaper - rather too early to tell! Need to see how it works in practice first.

Fascinating technology, though.

[Yeoman_dai]

Oh i don't know about that, it has more/better chance of fitting forward firing weapons - a good escort helo for V22's possibly? As at the moment Apache etc can't keep up in transit. Plus, apparently this tech has better hover capabilities than the tilt-rotor form

[BossEyed]

You clearly know far more about the extent and results of the test programme, and the design maturity, than has been released into the public domain, then!

[Tourist]

Looks like the effete brother of the Lockheed Cheyenne to me. Now that was a helicopter!
(though technically, of course, it wasn't.)

[wg13_dummy]

Now that was a helicopter.....

.....that was utter pants.

It had a handy pilot extraction system though.

[spheroid]

The X2 is scalable, with some studies showing that a heavylift version is possible that can carry up to 20 tons internally or 40 tons externally and still cruise at up to 250 kts. Sikorsky has also released illustrations of an armed attack version.

250 knots with a 40 ton external load....... tee hee....... Some wag in the PR department is having fun.

[The Sultan]

The XV-15 tilt-rotor kicked the ABC to the curb and the X-2 is nothing but a garage ABC. I am surprised it does not have a Piasecki name.

The Sultan

[BossEyed]

Piasecki are otherwise engaged with this:

[Tourist]

wg13
Why do you say that?

[wg13_dummy]

wg13
Why do you say that?

Several reasons really. The aircraft had cambered main rotor blades, a rigid rotor head and a FCS that wasn't up to the job of controlling the bizarre activities of the disc. Apart from troublesome vibrations that couldn't be cured, the main disc was rather unstable. This instability caused the disc to slice through the cockpit and extract the unfortunate pilot. A beefier FCS was installed but certain flight characteristics still couldn't be cured. NASA put one in a wind tunnel to evaluate some of the issues but this too decided to dismantle itself when the disc sliced the tail off (to be fair on the aircraft, it was a factor of how they'd strapped it into the wind tunnel that caused the loss). It was however, a very innovative design but unfortunately got binned due to being a bit too advanced for its time. A bit flippant in my 'pants' comment probably but it was a bit too darn clever for itself and for its time.

[GreenKnight121]

Originally Posted by Yeoman_dai

Cheaper alternative to the V22

Originally Posted by Aviation Week article

The X2 is scalable, with some studies showing that a heavylift version is possible that can carry up to 20 tons internally or 40 tons externally and still cruise at up to 250 kts. Sikorsky has also released illustrations of an armed attack version.
The timetable? “It will probably take ten to 12 years,” Estill said.

Ok, IF an order is made today, the optomistic best-case scenario would be first delivery of developmental early-production versions in 2019-2012... and a REALISTIC scenario places it in 2024-2026.


Just what do you propose the USMC does for medium-lift until then?

[Yeoman_dai]

Seem's i've been misunderstood - the interest I got from this was the application as an escort gunship, not a load-lifter.

V22 does medium lift very well, and is proving that in Iraq - in fact, when Obama went out there, it was a V22 he was ferried about in.