Sikorsky flies with new choppers

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Mar. 5--Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is reaching new heights with the first-ever flights of eight new helicopters in 15 months -- seven of them in the past seven months.

"I don't know of any company in aviation industry that has had this many first flights in this short amount of time," said Paul Jackson, a Sikorsky spokesman. "To have seven in seven months is unbelievable."

Sikorsky's new helicopters, whose inaugural flights were announced last month at the Heli-Expo in Anaheim, Calif., include the X2 Technology demonstrator model, a high-speed helicopter with two rotor blades.

"Our goal is to get that to fly at 250 knots, which is twice as fast as any helicopter today," Jackson said, adding that the X2, which first flew in late August, may change the helicopter industry.

"Imagine a Lifestar helicopter getting to victims twice as fast as today," Jackson said.

Sikorsky, based in Stratford and a subsidiary of United Technologies in Hartford, also announced the creation of Sikorsky Global Helicopters, a rebranding of its existing commercial business units in Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania.

Other new helicopters tested in late August at Sikorsky's test facilities in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Horseheads, N.Y., are the International S-70B and the latest Black Hawk helicopter, the UH-60M. The Armed Black Hawk had its maiden flight in early September. The CH-148 Cyclone, a Canadian military helicopter derived from Sikorsky's S-92 commercial

helicopter, took to the skies in November, while the smaller S-434 was tested in December and the S-76D, the latest in the company's workhorse S-76 commercial line, took first flight in February.

Sikorsky's wave of new helicopters began with the new H-92 helicopter, a military version of the S-92, which was flown for the first time in December 2007.

"It has been a remarkable time of innovation and flight success for Sikorsky, and we are extremely proud of what has been accomplished," said Kevin Bredenbeck, director of test and evaluation and chief test pilot for the X2 Technology demonstrator program. "Sikorsky has literally taken its commitment to innovation to new heights, and we look forward to achieving new milestones in each of these fine programs."

Sikorsky is in the process of revamping its product line to meet the market, said Ray Jaworowski, senior aerospace analyst with Forecast International, a Newtown-based marketing intelligence firm for the defense and aerospace industry.

"They are the most dominant manufacturer on the military side," he said.

The company is looking to increase its share in the civil service market with the S-76D and the S-92. "Those two helicopters will help them do that," Jaworowski said.

-- Staff Writer Michael C. Juliano can be reached at [email protected] or 964-2417.