Photo: Boeing
Sooner or later, the U.S. Army will get to play around with something it now calls the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA). It remains to be seen whether that will come in the form of the V-280 Valor being put together by Bell, or the Defiant X now being cooked up over at Sikorsky and Boeing.
Described as the “fastest assault helicopter in history,” the Defiant is presently hard at work testing, in prototype form, its capabilities and its hardware. And that includes the Honeywell HTS7500 engine.
It’s this piece of equipment that’ll make the Defiant a solid proposal for the Army’s FLRAA. It should provide 7,500 shaft horsepower, which is 42 percent more power than the most recent T55 it is based on, but also an 18 percent cut in fuel consumption.
The two companies say this engine will make the Defiant the fastest of its kind ever. That is because it is designed to reach a cruise speed of 286 mph (460 kph ) - compare that with the never-exceed speed of 222 mph (357 kph) the Black Hawk operates at, and you get the picture.
As some of you already know, the FLRAA program is supposed to create a successor for the Black Hawk, and despite the Defiant being so different from it, it’s also somewhat similar.
At least in terms of space occupied, as Boeing is trying to show in its most recent video (attached below). The short clip is not some display of capabilities, but a visual comparison trying to highlight how the Defiant has the same footprint as the Black Hawk, hence it could be housed in the same buildings as the current Army helicopter – meaning no new infrastructure needs to be created.
We’re likely to get more info such as this in the near future, as the FLRAA critical design review is scheduled for 2024. The Army estimates it’ll pay over $50 million per helicopter.
It’s this piece of equipment that’ll make the Defiant a solid proposal for the Army’s FLRAA. It should provide 7,500 shaft horsepower, which is 42 percent more power than the most recent T55 it is based on, but also an 18 percent cut in fuel consumption.
The two companies say this engine will make the Defiant the fastest of its kind ever. That is because it is designed to reach a cruise speed of 286 mph (460 kph ) - compare that with the never-exceed speed of 222 mph (357 kph) the Black Hawk operates at, and you get the picture.
As some of you already know, the FLRAA program is supposed to create a successor for the Black Hawk, and despite the Defiant being so different from it, it’s also somewhat similar.
At least in terms of space occupied, as Boeing is trying to show in its most recent video (attached below). The short clip is not some display of capabilities, but a visual comparison trying to highlight how the Defiant has the same footprint as the Black Hawk, hence it could be housed in the same buildings as the current Army helicopter – meaning no new infrastructure needs to be created.
We’re likely to get more info such as this in the near future, as the FLRAA critical design review is scheduled for 2024. The Army estimates it’ll pay over $50 million per helicopter.
For the U.S. Army's #FLRAA mission, leveraging current infrastructure matters.#DEFIANTX operates in the same footprint as the Black Hawk, so no new buildings to house this helicopter means it can be ready for the field more quickly. @Sikorsky ???? Boeing pic.twitter.com/TxFNsVVX8u
— Boeing Defense (@BoeingDefense) December 1, 2022
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