Sikorsky Wants to Rule the World

There is some interesting stuff in a presentation to United Technologies' investors given today (March 12) by Sikorsky president Jeff Pino. Compared with the rest of UTC, and much of the industry, Sikorsky is on a bit of a roll because of its hefty backlog of Black Hawk and Seahawk helicopters for the US military. But one key slide shows the number of international competitions now under way:

All charts: Sikorsky (click on charts to enlarge)

Not that Sikorsky expects to have it all its own way. Pino notes several challenges the company faces, including the rise in Russian helicopter sales, which have quadrupled since 2005; the increased competition facing the S-76 in the intermediate helicopter market, from the AW139 and EC175; and challenge of making a profit on deliveries of CH-148 Cyclones to the Canadian Forces.

Speaking of which, here's the first chart I've seen showing the new schedule for CH-148 deliveries since the contract was renegotiated in late 2008 because of development delays:

Sikorsky, not surprisingly, has set its sights on winning the Pentagon's restaged VXX presidential helicopter competition with the VH-92 and the US Army's Armed Aerial Scout contest (to replace the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and cancelled ARH-70A Arapaho). Interestingly, the company is not putting all of its AAS eggs in the X2 Technology high-speed coaxial-rotor basket, this chart showing also a more conventional design:

Now a last couple of slides from Pino's presentation. One shows the planned/projected CH-53K delivery profile; the other indicates Sikorsky has set June as the date for its delayed attempt to break the 250kt speed barrier with the X2 demonstrator - and to flight-test automated formation flight (a milestone on the company's roadmap to an optionally manned Black Hawk).

Tags: ar99, Sikorsky, BlackHawk