A scale-model on display at the Sikorsky Innovations booth in the exhibit hall gives away the company’s new strategic move.
The model shows that Sikorsky has partnered with Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which has been developing the Smart unmanned air vehicle (UAV) tiltrotor for about nine years.
Smart UAV
No information about the new alliance was immediately available, but Sikorsky is likely to explain the model’s presence in its own both later this week.
KARI had originally partnered with Bell several years ago to develop a more capable version of the latter’s HV911 Eagle Eye. Bell dropped out of the partnership in 2005, then canceled the Eagle Eye following several mishaps in flight testing.
KARI, however, continued developing the Smart UAV and achieved first flight in 2008.
Sikorsky has experimented with various rotory-wing configurations over its history, including most notably the coaxial rotor of the X2 high-speed helicopter.
Source: Flight Global
