Oct 032014
Sikorsky unveiled their new helicopter, the S-97 Raider, yesterday.
[youtube 6iWlLJm3v9s]
This is derived from the Sikorsky X-2 technology demonstrator, and was funded internally, not under government contract. Sadly, the history of internally funded aircraft getting government contracts is not exactly stellar.
If the US Army doesn’t buy it, though, I’m sure other militaries around the world will be interested. Expect to see Chinese knockoffs in the near future. But probably not before the Iranians try to pass off a cheap fiberglass mockup as their own prototype…