Sneak Peek: The Blackhawk Successor

Boeing Co. and Sikorsky are introducing their new helicopter, the Defiant X, which is intended to replace the aging fleet of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters for the US Army. HERE is a nice product video.

The Defiant X helicopter designed for a complete team is capable of flying low and fast to deliver troops where they are needed while evading adversaries over complex terrain, according to the Boeing website.

The US Army is expected to release the final solicitation for its Future Long Range Assault Aircraft competition later this year and may award contracts in 2022, according to a statement from Boeing on Monday. The competition is part of the broader Future Vertical Lift (FVL) initiative of the Army to upgrade the Black Hawks, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, and other aircraft, including the RQ-7 Shadow drone.

The Army chose the proposal from Boeing-Sikorsky and another from Bell Textron, the V-280 Valor, as finalists in the attack helicopter competition last year, as reported by Popular Mechanics in March. The Army could implement the winning design by 2030.

The two aircraft are very different. The Defiant X is equipped with a pair of contra-rotating, overhead wings and a pusher propeller in the rear. The Valor is a tiltrotor design similar to the V-22 Osprey built by Bell and Boeing.

The Defiant X flies twice as far and twice as fast as a Black Hawk, which according to Boeing can reach a cruising speed of 173 mph. It also features Sikorsky's X2 technology, allowing it to operate at high speeds while maintaining the handling characteristics of lower speeds.

The Defiant X online: www.lockheedmartin.com/…/flraa-defiant-x.html