Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. plans to develop a helicopter that can be controlled remotely without a pilot, while vowing to provide capital to smaller industry innovators as part of a new “Sikorsky Innovations” initiative.
Stratford-based Sikorsky indicated it would spend $1 billion on the program over the next decade.
“Sikorsky Innovations will identify our customers”™ toughest, high-value challenges and create solutions by understanding the requirements, quickly maturing technology options, and demonstrating solutions in flight,” said Mark Miller, vice president of research and engineering, in a prepared statement. “We are currently working on challenges in the areas of high-speed flight, optionally piloted aircraft, systems that enable safe operation in blinding, brown-out conditions, and many others that only a few years ago might have been considered technologically and economically unfeasible.”
An unmanned helicopter program would be Sikorsky”™s second major research project under way outside the auspices of a formal government program. Sikorsky currently is testing a prototype helicopter with a rear turbine mounted like that on a propeller airplane, designed to allow the aircraft to reach faster speeds than conventional helicopters.
Sikorsky is also developing a cargo helicopter for the Marine Corps that would be the largest ever built for the military. Last month, the company opened a $20 million precision components technology center to make rotors and other parts needed for the helicopter.
Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin are also developing unmanned cargo helicopters, the latter in conjunction with Bloomfield-based Kaman Corp.
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