Helicopters

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft's S-97 Raider advanced prototype helicopter showed off its agility by completing two demonstration flights for the US Army at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama on April 13 and 15, 2021.

NASA's Ingenuity robotic helicopter has survived its first night on the surface of Mars. After being deployed on Martian soil, the miniature rotorcraft had to keep itself warm through the night for the first time using only its internal power.

The Royal Navy is ready to begin operational training of its new Merlin "Crowsnest" Airborne Surveillance And Control (ASaC) helicopter as it prepares for the aircraft's first deployment aboard the supercarrier HMS Queen Elizabeth later this year.

NASA says its Ingenuity Mars helicopter will make its first flight on the Red Planet on April 8 or later, depending on weather conditions and preflight tests. If successful, it will be will the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

Airbus Helicopter's Flightlab flying laboratory based on the H130 copter has taken to the air for the first to perform a series of platform-agnostic in-flight tests of new systems aimed at ushering in next-generation aircraft technologies.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have taken the wraps off their coaxial-rotor Defiant X advanced military helicopter being developed for the US Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft competition to replace the Black Hawk.

The US Army is working to better understand the acoustic properties of eVTOL aircraft and co-axial rotors as part of efforts to design quieter, stealthier helicopters.

The 300-horsepower, supercharged 4-cylinder engine from the Kawasaki Ninja H2R has found a new home in an autonomous compound helicopter Kawasaki has been flight testing. And like the H2R, this K-Racer aircraft will be much faster than its peers.

After 34 years of service, during which it clocked up 933,614 flight hours, the United States Marine Corps is retiring its fleet of 179 Bell AH-1W “Super Cobra” attack helicopters, though some have been converted to their successor, the AH-1Z Viper.

Airbus Helicopters' VSR700 unmanned aerial system (UAS) prototype has flown autonomously for the first time. At a drone test center near Aix-en-Provence in the south of France, the pilotless rotorcraft performed a 10-minute free flight.

The US Army has awarded BAE Systems US$179 million to produce the next-generation Missile Warning System to protect the Army's rotorcraft.

Airbus Helicopters' multi-role H160 helicopter has received type certification from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and it is now expected to gain US FAA certification before commercial deliveries begin later this year.