How helicopter OEMs are guiding the future with technology demonstrators

Airbus Helicopters 

Airbus Helicopters is using several helicopter test beds to explore new technologies for its current family of rotorcraft and future vertical-lift aircraft. The company is currently working on several research and technology bricks that are aimed at making its aircraft more fuel efficient, while offering performance and mission flexibility. 

Flying from its facility in Marignane, France, FlightLab (a modified H130) is testing various autonomy and flight safety solutions. These include a rotor strike alerting system, a health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) for single-engine helicopters, and fly-by-wire simplified flight controls for urban air mobility (UAM) applications. FlightLab has also been the testbed for the Vertex project, aimed at testing new sensors, high computing capability equipment, a new human-machine interface that reduces pilot workload, and VTOL automation features.  

In October 2024, FlightLab participated in a demonstration of a crewed-uncrewed teaming system. For this, it was paired with the VRS700 uncrewed aircraft system as part of a project funded by the European Union.  

Airbus’s DisruptiveLab made its first flight in January 2023. The concept helicopter is designed to test new architecture aimed at improving aircraft performance and reducing environmental impact. Design features include a drag-reducing rotorhub, more aerodynamic landing gear, and a slicker fuselage that reduces drag by 20 percent. A redesigned, maintenance-free, and smaller Fenestron features 40 percent fewer mechanical parts, is quieter, and also reduces drag.  

The helicopter incorporates reverse hybridization, allowing power transmission from the turbines and vice versa. Airbus said this will yield a “huge” reduction in CO2 emissions. Overall, the helicopter could reduce fuel consumption by 50 percent compared to contemporary designs.   

The helicopter’s first flight campaign has amassed 42 hours, evaluating maximum mass and speed characteristics, as well as G-loading. In 2024, DisruptiveLab went through a thorough technical assessment, which validated performance and defined technical updates. This year, the aircraft will undergo major modifications in preparation of the next flight campaign, and bench testing will be performed on key disruptive technologies, including a new propulsion system. 

In Donauwörth, Germany, Airbus is testing the PioneerLab, based on its medium twin H145 platform. New technology systems and airframe components on the aircraft are co-funded by the Federal German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). Three main areas of focus for this program include: emission reduction from increased fuel economy via airframe and empennage drag reduction, testing higher power (500 kilowatt) hybrid electrical propulsion, and integrating digital technologies and sensors to facilitate autonomy and augment safety during critical phases of flight.  

Related technology includes a rotor strike alerting system (RSAS), which uses lidar sensors in hover operations to avoid rotor strike; wire detection using a stronger lidar sensor; advanced flight controls that enable automatic takeoff and landing in day or night with the aid of AI-based sensor fusion and enhanced autopilot; sensor and image processing that produce enhanced situational awareness; and new active trim actuators. PioneerLab also will flight test structural components made from bio-based and recycled materials. 

In 2024, PioneerLab focused on testing the advanced rotor strike alert system and integrated the bio-based materials into the helicopter. This year, the aircraft will test the advanced the automatic takeoff and landing system, an obstacle detection system that automatically adapts the flight path, and aerodynamic improvements to enhance efficiency and reduce fuel consumption. 

Finally, Airbus has the Racer twin-engine, compound helicopter. Developed in cooperation with the E.U.’s Clean Sky 2 program, the aircraft made its first flight in 2024 and achieved a top speed of 227 knots (420 kilometers per hour) during its initial flight test campaign. A second campaign this year will continue testing the flight envelope and new incorporated technologies, such as eco-mode, which enables shut down of one engine in forward flight, thus reducing fuel consumption and lowering CO2 emissions.   

Bell 

In May 2024, Bell revealed the existence of an autonomous flight demonstrator, based on the Bell 429. 

Known as the Aircraft Laboratory for Future Autonomy, the aircraft has been developed by Bell’s Advanced Programs team to test an “aircraft safety system” and perform autonomous fly-by-wire flights. 

Bell said its aircraft safety system separates safety functions from flight control functions, “allowing for rapid development and evaluation of novel flight control technology without compromising overall safety.” 

The manufacturer described ALFA’s fly-by-wire integration as a “critical step” in the future development of autonomous controls in its commercial fleet — the aim being to reduce pilot workload and enhance safety. 

ALFA performed its first flight at Bell’s facility in Mirabel, Quebec, and is now based at Bell’s Flight Research Center in Fort Worth, Texas. 

Separately, Bell continues development and testing of the requisite components of its High-Speed Vertical Takeoff and Landing (HSVTOL) technology. In 2023, Bell conducted successful tests of its folding rotor, integrated propulsion, and flight control technologies at the high-speed test track at the U.S. Air Force base at Holloman, New Mexico. HSVTOL is funded as part of the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) project aimed at building an X-plane to demonstrate associated technologies.   

Bell was one of two semifinalists down-selected for the program in May 2024. In December 2024, Bell announced that it had completed wind tunnel testing of the design at the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) in Wichita, Kansas. The wind tunnel program validated the stability and control of the aircraft through the rotor fold and unfold sequence in flight. A preliminary design review is due in April 2025.  

Bell announced its HSVTOL concept in 2021, saying that it “blends the hover capability of a helicopter with the speed, range, and survivability features of a fighter aircraft.” Bell said its concept for the aircraft features low downwash hover capability, jet-like cruise speeds of over 400 knots (740 kilometers per hour), runway independence and hover endurance, and scalability with aircraft gross weight ranges of from 4,000 to 100,000 pounds (1,815 to 45,360 kilograms). 

Leonardo 

Leonardo is continuing work on it Next Generation Civil Tiltrotor Technology Demonstrator (NGCTR-TD), which has been developed under the E.U.’s Clean Sky 2 program. 

The NGCTR-TD will test the core technologies needed to flight test a next-generation high-speed VTOL aircraft. Leonardo began ground run trials of the aircraft in the second half of 2024, including testing of the interconnected driveshaft linking the two transmissions and engines and verifying engine power. 

The NGCTR-TD incorporates five innovative technologies: advanced wing architecture; an optimized V-tail configuration that reduces trim drag; a non-tilting engine design with a split gearbox, allowing a wider selection of engines and avoiding ground hot gas impingement while providing ground noise reduction; an advanced fly-by-wire control that employs a modular, distributed, and scalable flight control system; and an efficient nacelle design which minimizes drag, improves control, and reduces flapping in VTOL mode by a differential control of nacelle tilting. 

In another development, the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s Proteus uncrewed rotorcraft technology demonstrator is expected to make first flight in mid-2025.  

The three-tonne aircraft will be used to demonstrate advances in autonomy, payload modularity and interchangeability, and develop new rotorcraft technologies, design and manufacturing techniques. The aircraft’s development supports the Royal Navy’s Maritime Aviation Transformation (MATx) strategy, covering the evolution of maritime aviation through 2040. 

Proteus draws on knowledge and components from Leonardo’s existing helicopter portfolio and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) programs to reduce costs and accelerate aircraft development. The design will demonstrate the viability of large UAS in the maritime environment. The modular payload bay is designed to enable flexible mission roles, including the ability to trade fuel for mission payload. Proteus has the ability to plug in specific payloads for different missions.  

Leonardo has created a “digital twin” of Proteus to aid development. The digital twin uses AI and machine learning algorithms in a synthetic environment to test, modify and prove capability without live aircraft trials. Leonardo is also experimenting with new digital rotorcraft manufacturing technologies, including 3D printing and low temperature cure composites, which require fewer manufacturing stages in parts production.  

The SW-4 Solo Rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial System/Optionally Piloted Helicopter (RUAS/OPH) was a central component of demonstration trials in October 2024 within the MUSHER (Manned/Unmanned System for Helicopter) initiative and the European Manned Unmanned Teaming (e-MUMT) system, funded by the European Union. Launched in 2020, the initiative aims to improve European capacity for operating manned and unmanned aerial platforms in civil, military or mixed environments. 

Coordinated by Thales, MUSHER involves industry partners including Leonardo, Airbus Helicopters, Indra, Thales Edisoft Portugal and Space Applications Services. The project’s main goal is to design a scalable European manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) system, allowing manned platforms (helicopters) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from European forces to interoperate within mission scenarios selected from NATO studies.  

From Sept. 30 to Oct. 9, 2024, Leonardo flew an AW189 super medium twin-engine helicopter together with a remotely piloted SW-4 Solo RUAS/OPH technology demonstrator. A safety pilot was aboard the SW-4, but the aircraft was controlled from a workstation aboard the AW189. Simultaneously, Airbus Helicopters successfully accomplished similar activities in France on a helicopter paired to a RUAS. To demonstrate full interoperability, flight trials included joint operations of the AW189 with the Airbus RUAS in France with real-time payload data transfer through satellite connection, as well as interaction between the Leonardo SW-4 Solo and the Airbus helicopter.  

Sikorsky 

In October 2024, Sikorsky flew a Black Hawk on an autonomous fire suppression mission. Using Sikorsky’s Matrix flight autonomy system in conjunction with Rain’s wildfire mission autonomy technology, the helicopter was commanded to take off, identify the location and size of the fire, and then accurately drop water on it from a Bambi Bucket on a 60-foot (18-meter) line while the fire was still in the incipient stage. The demonstration was performed at Sikorsky’s headquarters in Stratford, Connecticut. The flight was performed with a safety pilot in the cockpit, but they did not touch the controls until the flight landed.  

It is one of several successful applications of the Matrix system in recent years. In 2022, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) flew a UH-60A Black Hawk unoccupied for 30 minutes as part of the agency’s Aircrew Labor-In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program that utilizes Matrix technology. ALIAS is designed to reduce pilot workloads via the addition of high levels of automation into existing aircraft.  

In 2023, Sikorsky announced it was partnering with GE to develop a fully autonomous, hybrid-electric (HEX) demonstrator prototype. At the time, the company said it expected to fly the uncrewed aircraft in 2026 or 2027. Preliminary plans are to scale HEX to carry passengers and cargo.  

Finally, in May 2024, Sikorsky announced that it was conducting test flights of a rotor-blown wing UAS eVTOL as part of DARPA’s Ancillary initiative. A twin proprotor, the UAS sits on its tail to take off and land like a helicopter, and transitions to horizontal forward flight for long-endurance missions. Sikorsky said the vehicle would be scalable and also incorporate its Matrix autonomy flight control system.