Helicopter

The US Army is turning its AH-64 Apache attack helicopter into a drone hunter thanks to a new 30-mm round for its M230 chain-gun that can take out Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) using a proximity fuse that unleashes a blast of high-velocity shrapnel.

The Royal Navy highlighted its Hybrid Air Wing and Atlantic Bastion strategy as Leonardo’s full-scale Proteus autonomous helicopter completed its maiden flight on January 16, marking a key step toward mixed crewed and uncrewed operations.

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky has taken the next logical step in making a Black Hawk helicopter autonomous by not only installing the gear needed for self-flying, but by yanking out the entire cockpit and replacing it with cargo doors.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 Defiant helicopter has taken to the air for the first time at the Sikorsky facility in West Palm Beach. Designed to have twice the speed and range of conventional rotorcraft, the demonstrator aircraft is being developed as part of the US Army's Future Vertical Lift program.

Martyn and Louise Steedman​, the owners of Mains Farm Wigwams, have converted a decommissioned Sea King helicopter into a luxury tiny dwelling that is now available to glamping and tiny house enthusiasts.