U.S. helicopter maker Sikorsky has shared on social media a photo of the first prototype of a new scout-attack helicopter.
The famed aircraft maker has released on a corporation’s social media feed shots of its Raider X prototype helicopter which is designed to restore attack reconnaissance dominance with sweeping improvements in lethality, agility, reach, survivability, and sustainability to provide capability and flexibility to future commanders.
The prototype was shoot at the company’s flight test facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. It was equipped with modular weapon launchers loaded with guided missiles and a 20mm main gun.
Raider X is a concept for a fast, agile, survivable compound coaxial helicopter. The new helicopter was designed for the United States Army Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program.
Through the U.S. Army’s FARA program, Raider X is the out-front platform in the Service’s revolutionary approach for rapid development and delivery of game-changing technology and warfighter capabilities, equipped for the most demanding and contested environments. Raider X enables the reach, protection and lethality required to remain victorious in future conflicts.
The Army requires an aircraft capable of operating in complex airspace and degraded environments against peer and near-peer adversaries with an advanced integrated air defense system. The current aviation fleet does not possess a dedicated aircraft to conduct armed reconnaissance, light attack, and security with improved standoff and lethal and non-lethal capabilities from a platform sized to hide in radar clutter and for the urban canyons of mega cities.
