Helicopter

Conventional helicopters have a built-in speed limit, imposed by the physical limitations of their top-rotor lift systems. This fascinating Airbus project has found a way to break through that speed limit, and it's already done it in flight testing.

Austrian startup FlyNow is opening manufacturing facilities in Saudi Arabia, after the announcement that "thousands" of its coaxial twin-rotor helicopters will transport visitors at the upcoming World Expo in Riyadh.

NASA has given the green light for the nuclear-powered Dragonfly rotorcraft to explore Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Approval for the 2028 interplanetary mission comes after years of delay due to COVID-19 and a series of cost overruns.

Armed with a 300-horsepower, supercharged engine from Kawasaki's fearsome H2R hyperbike, the K-Racer X1 unmanned helicopter is an absolute beast of a cargo drone, the size of a small car. Watch it lifting a national-record weight in this new video.

There aren't any organizations other than NASA that can claim they are operating on two different planets. The space agency is now using that reach to create better helicopter blades on Earth and to push its copter to greater heights on Mars.

Huge props to these two helicopter test pilots, who have white-knuckled it through one of the most harrowing experiences in rotorcraft flight – an unpowered autorotation emergency landing – allowing an autonomous system to take the controls.

The first aircraft to fly on another planet has hit a new milestone. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has recently clocked up its 50th flight, and achieved a new altitude record in the process.

Yamaha has introduced an upgraded version of its Fazer R G2 unmanned helicopter, or drone, equipping it with more thrust and greater payload capacity to make it more suitable for carrying out aerial deliveries.

NASA has made history today, conducting the very first powered flight on another planet. The Mars Helicopter Ingenuity successfully took to the Red Planet skies for a brief jaunt, which will hopefully be the first of several.

Defense companies Leonardo and Thales have successfully tested the Martlet Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM). The missile being developed for the Royal Navy was fired during air trials from a Wildcat helicopter as part of the UK FASGW program.

Boeing's design for the US Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft prototype competition features an all-new, six-bladed, single-main rotor, fly-by-wire control, and a push-propeller for maneuverability and high-speed horizontal flight.

After 150 hours of envelope expansion flights, the Sikorsky HH-60W Combat Rescue Helicopter has been cleared by the US Air Force for initial an production run of 113 helicopters.