Clean bill of health offers springboard for Defiant’s FLRAA fight
The SB>1 Defiant Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) is moving towards increased speed flight tests, having overcome a gearbox joint ‘bearing creep’ issue that was discovered last year.
A plan to hit a maximum speed of 250kt could also happen ‘in months’, according to company sources, significant progress that looks set to belatedly see the X2 coaxial helicopter offer greater competition to its V-280 Valor FLRAA counterpart.
Different rates of progress between the two have been long documented, resulting in Sikorsky and Boeing being given a year-long extension to hand over their Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator final
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