"We called that Raider-X for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program for the U.S. Army. I ran that aircraft chained to the ground, getting ready to go do a flight test in that aircraft. Our competitor, Bell Helicopter, built the Invictus helicopter. And the Army canceled the program. So we never got to fly that aircraft," Bill Fell, a Sikorsky test pilot, told reporters at the Farnborough airshow.
Sikorsky’s S-97 Raider on display at Farnborough
At Lockheed Martin’s megachalet at the Farnborough airshow, Sikorsky placed the S-97 Raider squarely in view. The stacked, or coaxial, rotors and the aircraft’s sharply raked fuselage made the Raider visually striking; Sikorsky advertises the design can reach up to 240 knots. Fell described the Raider as the company’s offering for a customer “that wants to go fast and decelerate just as quickly.”
NATO’s Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC) competition
Sikorsky is weighing a bid for NATO’s Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability program alongside European-based Airbus and Leonardo and U.S.-based Bell — firms already associated with prototype design work. The reporting notes that Leonardo and Bell "have expressed willingness to collaborate on the program." Boeing is also assessing a possible entry, describing the effort as "the competition as customer requirements and specifications are refined," a company spokesperson told Defense One.
How the Army’s earlier cancellations shaped the Raider story
The S-97 and a larger sibling, the SB>1 Defiant (developed with Boeing), trace their lineage to U.S. Army modernization efforts that were halted or redirected. Sikorsky referred to the S-97 as "Raider-X for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft program"; Fell said the company had prepared to flight-test that prototype but "we never got to fly that aircraft" after the Army canceled the program. The Defiant, a larger coaxial design flown in 2019, also lost out when competing for the Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft program.
Coaxial rotors, X-2 technology, and operational trade-offs
Sikorsky highlighted the aerodynamic reasons behind the coaxial, counter-rotating design and its X-2 technology. According to Fell, the configuration "promote[s] fast, low-altitude flight and prevent[s] retreating blade stall." He explained the technical constraint in single-rotor helicopters: in high-speed flight, "the outboard few feet of the retreating disc has to produce the same amount of lift as the advancing disc entire blade does," which can lead to retreating blade stall. Fell said X-2 addresses this by having an "advancing half on each side" so that high-velocity airflow on the advancing side can be counterbalanced.
At the same time, Fell acknowledged limits: "This technology is never going to be as efficient as a tiltrotor, and I think the Army wanted the additional speed that they could get out of that, and it also goes fast a little more efficiently." Sikorsky pitches the Raider for missions where rapid deceleration under fire is valuable — "Any time you're coming in somewhere where they're shooting at you, or you are afraid they're going to shoot at you, you can decelerate more quickly in this aircraft and minimize the amount of time that somebody's shooting at you," Fell said.
What this means for NATO, Sikorsky, and Airbus/Leonardo
- NATO: The NGRC competition will weigh multiple design trade-offs — speed and rapid deceleration versus tiltrotor efficiency — as it evaluates prototypes from European and U.S.-linked manufacturers.
- Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin): The company is "looking for the right customer" and assessing requirements for NGRC; it has signaled an intention to produce NGRC aircraft in Europe if selected and is also "considering a prospective program in South Korea," Fell said.
- Airbus and Leonardo (and Bell): Already tied to prototype development and open to collaboration, these firms will compete directly with Sikorsky and potentially Boeing as NATO refines specifications and member nations expand industrial involvement.
Two years after the U.S. Army stepped back from the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft effort, the Raider’s appearance at Farnborough frames a narrower question for NATO: will alliance buyers favor the coaxial X-2 approach that promises high dash speed and rapid deceleration under threat, or opt for alternatives that prioritize tiltrotor-style efficiency? The NGRC competition, and the requirements NATO settles on, will decide whether a design that the Army ultimately did not adopt finds a second life across the Atlantic.
