Sikorsky’s HEX/VTOL (hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing) technology demonstration aircraft could fly as early as 2027. (Image and photos Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin) Sikorsky’s Next Act(s) OEM offers both legacy product improvement and out-of-the-box thinking. By Mark Huber “We run like a start-up,” says Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky’s Innovations. Sikorsky formed Innovations in 2013 as an advanced concepts lab to address what the company saw as the three main challenges of vertical flight: speed, autonomy, and intelligence. “When we recruit, we try to find people … who like working on aviation and vertical lift but are also open to working on other things,” says Cherepinsky. “I can go from wearing a suit and briefing vice presidents on what we are doing, to putting on jeans and going to the hangar and working on control systems, writing code, or designing hardware. That’s the neat part of it. We try and find people like that who can do everything—software engineers doing demos, driving ground stations, developing code. You name it, we do it.” While recruits have solid technical backgrounds, Innovations seeks talent from a variety of sources, including leading engineering schools and parent company Lockheed Martin, as well as people who are interested in working on “cool problems.” The core staff of Sikorsky Innovations numbers around 60, but they are augmented by people from the larger Sikorsky enterprise as needed. Over the past year, 200 to 300 people worked on Innovations’ current crop of projects—programs that hold the keys to the company’s future. The day-to-day feel in Innovations is informal but intense, almost like one would find in Silicon Valley. Engineers—some in T-shirts—work collaboratively with offices adjacent to lab space. “We’re open to ideas, some would say crazy ideas,” says Cherepinsky. “But unlike a tech start-up, we have a much more defined mission: to develop new products for the vertical lift mission of Sikorsky.” Innovations is part of virtually every development project at Sikorsky, such as the X2 family of fast compound coaxial-rotor helicopters, including the Raider X and Defiant X, designed for the US Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) and Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) programs. The X2 technology demonstration aircraft achieved a forward speed of 250 kt. in level flight in 2010, a feat that later won its development team the prestigious Robert J. Collier Trophy from the National Aeronautic Association. Despite the army’s 2022 decision to award the FLRAA contract to Bell Textron (and outright canceling the FARA program in 2024), Richard Benton, Sikorsky VP and general manager, recently said the company remains confident in the X2 technology. Sikorsky is exploring possible applications for the X2, including NATO’s Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability concept competition. In 2024, NATO awarded related study contracts to Airbus, Leonardo, and Sikorsky parent Lockheed Martin to deliver a new class of medium helicopters between 2035 and 2040. Innovations will be a big part of that effort, as well as several others for the company. The list of innovative programs Sikorsky is working on, as described below, is long and diverse. Bristow recently signed a long-term agreement with Sikorsky that includes the company’s Total Assurance Program, which provides aftermarket support for Bristow’s fleet of 60 S-92s. S-92 Phase IV Main Gearbox Sikorsky expects FAA certification later this year for a new main gearbox (MGB) for the S-92 helicopter featuring an auxiliary lubrication system that automatically engages in the event of primary oil pressure loss. This eliminates the need for immediate landing after a loss of oil pressure and allows flights to safely reach their destination. Sikorsky spent more than a decade and $100 million developing the new MGB and subjecting it to more than 800 hours of testing. The new gearbox will be part of the S-92A+ upgrade kit. The S-92 helicopter is popular in the offshore energy industry, where many aircraft log more than 1,500 hours annually. It’s also used in search-and-rescue operations and for VVIP (very very important person) transport, including as the new VH-92A, designated Marine One when the US president is aboard. Sikorsky has announced several other enhancements to the S-92 in recent months, including increased scheduled inspection intervals and a one-time life extension for specific MGB housings. The company says these enhancements will eliminate more than a full year of downtime caused by inspections and allow operators to safely keep their aircraft in service—and generating revenue—longer. The total earned-life credit is up to 1,200 hours or 3,600 ground-air-ground cycles, representing an additional 12 to 18 months of use for an average S-92 offshore oil operator and more than 24 months for others, according to Sikorsky. Along with the new gearbox, Sikorsky is continuing to support the installed fleet of nearly 300 S-92 helicopters with comprehensive product support. In April, the company announced its new Total Assurance Program maintenance support deal for the Bristow Group. With 60 S-92s flying its livery, Bristow is the largest fleet operator of the model. The agreement includes power-by-the-hour coverage that includes over 90% of replacement costs for parts. The S-92 has a lifetime availability average of over 90%, according to Leon Silva, Sikorsky VP of global commercial and military systems. Sikorsky spent $100 million developing the new main gearbox for the S-92. Matrix Autonomy In 2013, Sikorsky announced its Matrix platform—a combination of systems and software that improves the capability, reliability, and safety of flight for autonomous, optionally piloted, and piloted vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. Since then, the company has shown steady progress for this autonomy platform, as well as new applications for it. Sikorsky first demonstrated the technology in 2013 aboard a specially fitted S-76B helicopter. Subsequent additions included sensor suites and data links for progressively complex mission requirements, enabling functionality in low-altitude, obstacle-rich environments. The success of these flights paved the way for Matrix to be installed on optionally piloted Black Hawk helicopters for demonstration programs with the US Army and Marine Corps, thanks to a collaboration between Sikorsky and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) that dates to 2015. During demonstration flights in 2022 in Yuma, Arizona, an unmanned Black Hawk equipped with the ALIAS system flew missions that included long-endurance medical resupply, cargo delivery, and casualty evacuation. Demonstrated operations included nap-of-the-earth flights (flying fast and low while using terrain to mask the aircraft’s presence), troop resupply with an external load, and rerouting midflight to evacuate a casualty. In 2022, an unmanned Black Hawk equipped with Sikorsky’s Matrix autonomy technology flew as part of a US DARPA demonstration project in Arizona. In late 2024, Sikorsky announced plans for 2025 demonstration flights for the US Marine Corps Aerial Logistics Connector program. Using an optionally piloted Black Hawk, the flights will show how an autonomous aircraft can resupply and sustain Marines in a contested battlespace. “Aircraft with Matrix autonomy can safely and reliably perform a variety of complex missions, including internal and external cargo transport with no one on board,” says Sikorsky’s Benton. “With the Marine Corps, we will explore how an autonomy-based fleet of uncrewed aerial systems and rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft can sustain the expeditionary force with precision resupply during distributed, high-tempo operations.” The Marine Corps announcement follows a demonstration of autonomous, unmanned Black Hawk flights for senior US Department of Defense officials at the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army in October 2024. From the trade show floor in Washington, D.C., mission goals were sent to the helicopter more than 300 miles away at Sikorsky’s Stratford, Connecticut, headquarters. The aircraft autonomously took off, hovered, flew a field circuit, and landed. Sikorsky is also testing the Matrix autonomy platform for civil applications. During the early 2025 Southern California wildfires, Sikorsky Firehawks proved to be an invaluable tool for day/night fire suppression missions. The multimission Firehawk is a Sikorsky S-70, specially modified by United Rotorcraft, fitted with a 1,000-gal. drop tank, snorkel, and related systems and equipment. Because of the aircraft’s 160-kt. speed and maneuverability, it can quickly and effectively apply water and/or retardant on blazes. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and local fire departments across the state operate 24 Firehawks, with CAL FIRE receiving three more this year. Kate Grammer, Sikorsky regional sales lead for the Firehawk, told POWER UP that the company intends to place a demonstrator within the California market for a fully configured Matrix-enabled Firehawk in the coming years. In fact, Sikorsky already is moving in that direction. On May 1, it announced that it is partnering with Rain, one of the companies in the emerging “firetech” sector that intends to apply advanced technology to wildfire suppression. In a late-April demonstration in California, ground operators used Rain’s wildfire suppression software to assign a number of common aerial firefighting tasks to a Matrix-equipped Black Hawk. During the successful demonstration, Sikorsky safety pilots were hands-off the controls as the Black Hawk extinguished staged propane and brush fires. The Matrix-equipped aircraft flew 24 hours during two weeks of flight. The suppression missions were flown over wildfire-prone terrain at altitudes up to 3,300 ft. in wind gusting to 30 kt., and the helicopter was fitted with a 324-gal. Bambi Bucket attached to a 40-ft. line. A crewed Orange County (California) Fire Authority Sikorsky S-76 airborne command helicopter flew alongside the autonomous Black Hawk, demonstrating communications interoperability of the autonomous aircraft with a human-piloted helicopter in the same fire traffic area. The Matrix package on the Black Hawk included fly-by-wire controls, satellite data link, and onboard thermal and vision cameras. Sensors mounted on the aircraft geolocated the fire and streamed video to the ground operator’s Rain tablet for situational awareness and mission planning. Using the tablet, the ground commander was able to instruct the Black Hawk to find water, fill the bucket in hover, find the fire and determine its size, calculate flight path and speed, compensate for wind, and determine when to release water to achieve the desired coverage. “Sikorsky and Rain have integrated two autonomy systems: our Matrix technology that controls the flight of any crewed or uncrewed aircraft, and Rain’s wildfire mission autonomy system that finds and tracks the fire, develops a suppression plan, and navigates the aircraft to drop water onto the target,” says Sikorsky’s Benton. “With this layered autonomy system, incident commanders and pilots can choose a level of autonomy suitable for their mission.” Sikorsky’s rotor blown wing UAS in January successfully demonstrated a transition between horizontal and vertical flight. Rotor Blown Wing UAS Matrix will also be a big part of Sikorsky’s jump into the unmanned aircraft system (UAS) market. The company announced earlier this year that it had successfully validated the advanced control laws to fly its battery-powered rotor blown wing UAS in both helicopter and airplane modes. The 115-lb., twin prop-rotor prototype sits on its tail to take off and land like a helicopter and transitions to horizontal forward flight for long-endurance missions. “Combining helicopter and airplane flight characteristics onto a flying wing reflects Sikorsky’s drive to innovate next-generation VTOL UAS aircraft that can fly faster and farther than traditional helicopters,” says Benton. The prototype has demonstrated operational stability and maneuverability across all flight regimes, and the company says it has the potential to scale the VTOL design to larger sizes that will use hybrid-electric propulsion. All Sikorsky rotor blown wing variants will include the Matrix technology that enables aircraft autonomy. In January, the 10.3-ft.-composite-wingspan aircraft completed more than 40 takeoffs and landings, as well as 30 transitions between helicopter and airplane modes. In horizontal flight, the aircraft reached a top cruise speed of 86 kt. According to Sikorsky’s Cherepinsky, the data collected indicates that the aircraft can “operate from pitching ship decks and unprepared ground when scaled to much larger sizes.” Other applications include search and rescue, firefighting monitoring, humanitarian response, and pipeline surveillance. Large variants will enable long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions as well as piloted-drone teaming operations, in which a piloted aircraft directs one or more UAS. The HEX aircraft platform features a tilting wing, as opposed to tilting rotors and/or nacelles. HEX VTOL Aircraft In 2023, Sikorsky announced plans to develop its HEX platform, an autonomous, hybrid-electric, high-speed VTOL aircraft prototype. The HEX design is unique, featuring a tilting wing, as opposed to tilting rotors and/or nacelles, which have been the most common form of tiltrotor technology to date. The first flight of a HEX aircraft could occur by 2027. The demonstration aircraft is substantial: 9,000 lb. and 40 ft. long, powered by a GE CT7 engine. Production aircraft could eventually scale up to 30,000 lb., positioning them as potential commuter aircraft, capable of delivering passengers between urban centers. Cherepinsky says the goal of the HEX program is to “break the paradigm” that vertical lift aircraft are more expensive to operate than fixed-wing aircraft. “We’re interested in vehicles that operate the way normal helicopters are used to operating but roughly doubling the range,” he says, with speeds in the high-200–kt. range. To keep manufacturing costs low, Sikorsky envisions a family of HEX products featuring systems with a high degree of commonality. With that goal, Sikorsky is designing the power electronics, motors, and controls in-house and liberally using 3D printing for complex, sophisticated components such as forgings and castings. According to Cherepinsky, developing the HEX prototype has enabled “lots of learning” for the Innovations team, which has already been through “several generations” of electric motor design. The first aircraft is already being assembled, and power-on and ground runs could commence in short order. As with many new aircraft in development, HEX aircraft aren’t intended to replace traditional helicopters, Cherepinsky says. He expects the limited hover time of HEX aircraft to make them unsuited for some missions, such as search and rescue or construction. “These aren’t meant to be long-term hover machines. … They aren’t going to hover for two hours to pick somebody out of the water.” A Full Plate It’s fair to say that Sikorsky Innovations has no shortage of projects. And while the team tends to thrive on intensity, they do things to relieve stress, including bringing in pizza and flying remote-control airplanes and helicopters. Cherepinsky’s current favorite is his fully aerobatic 700-size electric helicopter. “It’s fun right up until you do something wrong—and it crashes.” Mark Huber is an aviation journalist with more than two decades of experience in the vertical flight industry.
