Production of the Sikorsky Raider X prototype progresses.

According to a PR published by Lockheed Martin on April 4, 2022, the Sikorsky RAIDER X® competitive prototype (CP) for the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) is more than 85 percent complete, progressing 50 percent faster through production and assembly compared to legacy programs and resulting in a cost-effective, transformational aircraft.

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Sikorsky’s FARA Competitive Prototype, RAIDER X (Picture source: Lockheed Martin)

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, has made significant progress on RAIDER X, which is now weight on wheels at the Sikorsky Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. RAIDER X, which Sikorsky has begun powering on, has accomplished nearly 50 percent of the required System Acceptance Test procedures.

Sikorsky X2™ technology underpins the RAIDER X design. The compound coaxial technology of X2 provides unmatched potential and growth margin for increased speed, combat radius and payload. This enables a broader range of aircraft configurations for specific mission requirements.

In addition, the build of Sikorsky’s second FARA fuselage is now complete. This fuselage is being integrated into Sikorsky’s structural test program and will be used to validate the flight and ground loads capability of the airframe. These tests support the RAIDER X CP flight safety program and provide data to optimize and accelerate the design for the full weapons system.

RAIDER X features Modular Open System Architecture (MOSA)-based avionics and mission systems offering “plug-and-play” options for computing, sensors, survivability and weapons. X2 compound coaxial technology provides unmatched potential and growth margin for increased speed, combat radius and payload. This enables a broader range of aircraft configurations for specific mission requirements.

With proven world-wide supply chain partners, RAIDER X will leverage advanced manufacturing processes currently in use today on the Black Hawk, Combat Rescue Helicopter and CH-53K.

Digital Thread and Virtual Models: RAIDER X fully utilizes Sikorsky’s digital thread and virtual prototyping tools to maximize the capabilities RAIDER X provides to Soldiers while optimizing the aircraft’s affordability and sustainability over the life cycle. These virtual models are highly reliable, physics-based simulations of our design that provide early discovery, minimize redesign and enable future upgrades to be efficient and affordable.

The implementation of such advanced processes reduced lead-time for aircraft components by over 50 percent. Lockheed Martin began manufacturing components for RAIDER X on production tooling while still in conceptual design. Then, less than a year later, completed hardware components were available for customer review, including comprehensive aircraft assembly simulations for all components.

Sikorsky S-97 RAIDER: One of the primary risk reduction efforts is flight test data from the S-97 RAIDER®, which is funded entirely by Sikorsky. The S-97 RAIDER is an 80 percent-scale prototype of the RAIDER X design, and the flight test program informs design decisions, correlates to a virtual prototype and enables Sikorsky to experiment with the unique capabilities that X2 technology provides.

Sikorsky planned to offer it for the United States Army's Armed Aerial Scout program, along with other possible uses. The S-97 made its maiden flight on 22 May 2015.