Sikorsky-Boeing team has unveiled Defiant X, its design proposal for the US Army’s Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) programme. The helicopter has a rigid coaxial rotor system and pusher propeller and thus is almost identical to its demonstrator predecessor, the SB-1 Defiant. However, some small changes to the production model’s configuration are planned, Sikorsky and Boeing said in a 22 January interview.
Most noticeably, the helicopter’s exhaust outlets have been covered with a shroud to reduce its infrared signature, a precaution against heat-seeking missiles. The rotorcraft’s landing gear configuration was changed from two mid-section wheels and a tail wheel to a layout that includes a nose wheel, two mid-section wheels and a small wheel under the tail....MORE
