“Work on the new helicopter is proceeding at full swing. We decided to split the project in two. The demonstrator has already flown and will now be used to research technologies for increasing the rotorcraft’s flight speed to over 450 kmph,” Andrei Shibitov said.
He added that the flight speed of the new helicopter was designed to exceed that of the existing ones by an impressive 50 percent. The maximum speed of existing helicopters does not exceed 300 kmph.
The actual appearance and technical characteristics of the superfast Russian helicopter will be specified by the Defense Ministry, Andrei Shibitov said.
Rival aircraft manufacturers – Eurocopter and Sikorsky – are testing prototype models, with the Sikorsky X2 having surpassed 460 kmph and Eurocopter X3 featuring slightly lower speed but superior cost-effectiveness.
