S-97 Aurora by Sikorsky

Wow! Happened to come across this article and the picture with it! Looks like it should appear on that old tv show Airwolf!

A company by the name of Aurora FLight Sciences announched that it had been selected by old granddaddy helicopter giant Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation to design and build some prototype airframes for the S-97 Raider project.

The S-97 Raider program is based off of Sikorsky's next-generation X-2 Technology rotary wing demonstrator aircraft, which features twin coaxial counter-rotating main rotors and a pusher propeller.

NASA selected the X2 Demonstrator as the recipient of the 2010 Collier Trophy. The S-97 can fly nearly twice the speed as other conventional helicopters with greater maneuverability, greater endurance, reduced noise, and fly at higher altitudes.

Now Aurora Flight Sciences designs and builds robotic aircraft and other advance vehicles for scientific and military projects and they operate out of Manassas, VA.

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Ref.

1. Verticalmag.com "Sikorsky Selects Aurora for S-97 RAIDER" by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. April 4, 2011. (http://www.verticalmag.com/control/news/templates/?z=0&a=16627).

2. (www.aurora.aero).