Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky has successfully demonstrated the capabilities of a “rotor blown wing” unmanned aircraft system through extensive flight tests earlier this year. The company announced these achievements on a Monday, showcasing a drone that can function both like a helicopter and an airplane.
The drone weighs 115 pounds and is equipped with a battery-powered twin prop-rotor system. Sikorsky indicated that this aircraft design can be expanded to larger sizes, which would require hybrid-electric propulsion for enhanced performance.
Designed as a vertical take-off and landing aircraft, it aims to “fly faster and farther than traditional helicopters,” according to Rich Benton, Sikorsky’s vice president and general manager. The development process for this drone spanned a year, with Sikorsky Innovations, the company’s rapid prototyping group, conducting preliminary design, simulations, and both tethered and untethered flights.
In January 2025, Sikorsky Innovations reported successful completion of over 40 take-offs and landings with the aircraft, which features a 10.3-foot composite wingspan. The drone executed 30 transitions between helicopter and airplane modes, noted as the “most complex maneuver” required for its design. Additionally, it achieved a top cruise speed of 86 knots.
Igor Cherepinsky, the director of Sikorsky Innovations, stated that the rotor blown wing has exhibited the necessary control power and handling qualities for seamless transitions between hovering and high-speed wing-borne flight. He added that new control laws were essential for effectively managing this maneuver and that the data suggests operational viability from pitching ship decks and unprepared ground when scaled up.
The potential applications for this aircraft include search and rescue operations, firefighting monitoring, humanitarian response efforts, and pipeline surveillance. Sikorsky also envisions larger models being capable of long-range intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and manned-unmanned teaming applications.
To enhance its functionality, Sikorsky plans to integrate its MATRIX flight autonomy system into all drone variants. Furthermore, the company is currently developing a larger 1.2-megawatt hybrid-electric tilt-wing demonstrator, named HEX, which is designed to transport passengers or cargo on longer-haul flights. Sikorsky plans to showcase HEX’s hover capability in 2027.
These advancements come after the U.S. Army’s unexpected cancellation of its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, in which Sikorsky was competing with a coaxial rotor blade aircraft, Raider X. Over a year before the cancellation, Sikorsky had also lost another future aircraft competition to Bell, where it and Boeing had proposed an even larger version of Raider X known as Defiant.
Despite these setbacks, Sikorsky continues to pursue the potential of its X2 coaxial helicopter technology and is actively pitching it to various potential clients. The company is working on a next-generation helicopter for Italy and is involved with the NATO Next-Generation Rotorcraft Capability initiative. In July 2024, contracts were awarded to Lockheed, Airbus, and Leonardo to assist NATO in developing a new helicopter.
Jen Judson, the author of this report, is an award-winning journalist with a focus on land warfare for Defense News. She has also contributed to Politico and Inside Defense, holding a Master of Science in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts from Kenyon College.
