Jul. 24—As Sikorsky seeks fresh relevance under a new president, the Connecticut manufacturer is touting its efforts to build a new class of aircraft powered by hybrid-electric motors at the Farnborough International Airshow. The company is not alone, with plenty of others showcasing their own prototypes this week at the aviation industry's most ballyhooed convention.
Sikorsky has multiple concept aircraft in the works, including an electric-powered "blown wing" designed with twin propellers to take off vertically then level out in flight. The propellers are designed to maintain a flow of air along the wing to maintain lift for the extended periods required for reconnaissance and other missions. The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency chose the Sikorsky design among six finalists for a potential new contract, with flight tests envisioned for 2026.
With Sikorsky having already flown a 130-pound model of its rotor blown wing concept, the Lockheed Martin subsidiary is developing a larger version that could weigh more than a ton, according to Aviation Week, and envisions being able to scale the concept to as much as 10 tons. Sikorsky's Black Hawk helicopter weighs about six tons empty.
Sikorsky is also developing a "tilt-wing" aircraft that is similar in concept to Textron Bell's V-22 Osprey and V-280 Valor, which both feature tilt-rotor technology.
In June, parent Lockheed Martin shifted Sikorsky's president of three years Paul Lemmo to lead its larger Integrated Warfare Systems and Sensors business. IWSS has some 9,500 employees at eight major sites spanning missile defense, radar, shipbuilding, lasers, combat system integration and other programs, with Lemmo describing IWSS as Lockheed Martin's "most diverse line of business" in a LinkedIn post last month announcing the change.
Lemmo's Sikorsky replacement Rich Benton has held a succession of roles at Lockheed Martin, including oversight of the Javelin shoulder-mounted missile system designed for use against armored vehicles. During a Tuesday morning review of Lockheed Martin's second-quarter results, CEO Jim Taiclet said the Javelin made "a tremendous difference" in blunting Russia's initial invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Under Lemmo, Sikorsky lost out to the Bell V-280 for a new Army utility aircraft that will take on some of the missions performed today by the Black Hawk helicopter. The Army also canceled plans early this year for an armed scout helicopter that Bell and Sikorsky had hoped to produce, triggering hundreds of layoffs in Sikorsky's engineering teams.
"Sikorsky ... faces continued cost pressure and absorbs headwinds, the impact of which have exceeded benefits from its cost-reduction programs," Taiclet said Tuesday morning.
In the second quarter, revenue jumped by more than $650 million from a year earlier for Lockheed Martin's rotary systems division that includes Sikorsky, to $4.55 billion for a 17 percent gain. Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin delivered 28 helicopters in the second quarter, up from 22 in the second quarter of 2023.
Lockheed Martin does not break out Sikorsky revenue separately, except to note that Sikorsky generated an extra $160 million in revenue from increased production of Black Hawk helicopters and the CH-53K King Stallion helicopter fleet Sikorsky is building for the U.S. Marine Corps and the Israel Defense Forces.
The Farnborough air show runs Monday through Friday, with major manufacturers and aviation startups showing off their latest developments to some 75,000 attendees. In addition to Sikorsky, other Connecticut-based manufacturers with Farnborough pavilions include Pratt & Whitney and parent RTX, which has been shelling out huge sums to replace problem parts on jet engines installed on two models of Airbus jets that are in wide use by airlines.
At Farnborough, Airbus is showing off its PioneerLab hybrid-electric helicopter design, which combines a Pratt & Whitney engine with a pair of electric motors designed by fellow RTX subsidiary Collins Aerospace. Boeing has its Wisk "air taxi" on display at the air show, as it seeks Federal Aviation Administration approval after hundreds of millions of dollars in investment in the concept. And Joby Aviation is on hand with a battery-electric air taxi it is readying for commercial deployment, after raising more than $2 billion from a number of investors including Uber.
Embraer also has an air taxi prototype on display it has spent more than $500 million to develop. The Brazil passenger jet manufacturer also wowed the Farnborough crowds Monday, as a pilot executed a steep takeoff and tightly banked turns in the new Embraer E195-E2 jet that uses Pratt & Whitney engines.
While Boeing dominated orders announced Monday at Farnborough, Airbus got the biggest early buzz with its new A321XLR passenger jet, which offers the promise to open new routes for smaller airports with a range that tops 5,000 miles. The aircraft uses engines from the CFM International joint venture of GE Aviation and Safran.
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