HI Uplift: Sikorsky committed to civil helicopters for ‘many decades’
Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company pledged its long-term commitment to the civil rotary market, including its S-92 aircraft, at our recent Helicopter Investor London 2024 conference.
“We’ve been in the business on the commercial side for 60 years and we are not projecting the need to exit the market. It is a strong business and a strong market for us,” said Leon Silva, vice president of Global Commercial & Military Systems for Lockheed Martin Corporation. “It will be many, many decades in which we will remain in the civil helicopter market.”
In a wide-ranging panel debate, spanning the rise of super-mediums and supply chain challenges, Sikorsky acknowledged the need for a diversified fleet.
His view found favour with other panellists, based on the structure of the heavy helicopter population, as described by panel moderator Brad Shaen, International Aviation Marketing Ltd. He described the fleet as including: the Sikorsky S-92 (263 units in service), Airbus H225/EC225 (130 in service) Leonardo AW189 (83 in service), Airbus H175 (57 in service) and Bell 525 (with four development aircraft).
Tim Evans, director, 525 Business Development, Bell Flight agreed that in the short term at least, there is room for all helicopter types flying different missions and different roles. “In the longer term, as OEMs we are trying to put our graph on the market. To say all types will survive is a little bit naïve,” he said. “We are trying to make money on these aircraft, so I think space is going to be limited.”
David Prevor, Airbus Helicopters who thought there was space for all the helicopter types identified by Shaen. But he acknowledged: “At the end of the day, we may finish with less than the list we see here.”
How the market will adjust to heavy helicopters plus increasing numbers of super-mediums was “the big question” for Roberto Garavaglia, Leonardo Helicopters. Its plan for the AW189, launched at the Paris International Air Show of 2011, was to offer an aircraft with general parameters of the AW139 but with four more seats and longer legs, he said. “If you can still get there and accomplish the mission, probably a smaller module is what you want to have. Smaller is probably better, more elastic and more efficient,” he said.
The next decade will see a crossover between heavy and super-medium helicopters, said Garavaglia. “The tipping point could be in about 10 or 12 years, when the super-mediums could be with us in greater numbers than the larger helicopters,” he said. “But there are missions where heavy helicopters – with their longer legs – will be needed for ever.”
All the manufacturers agreed it was important to consider a new helicopter’s secondary and tertiary mission life in the design and building stages. Read the full story via the link.
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Aircraft Systems Engineering (MBSE), Certification, Airworthiness, Reliability & Safety, RCM ILS, Educator.
1moI am an instructor requested for A&P certificate holders which we produce very little of because of attrition and the lengthy curriculum set by authority. A suggestion is for 145,135,121 organizations to partner with local secondary and A&P school to have apprenticeship route to obtain A&P certificate solution short term. More important is for operators/stakeholders participate with the local ARAC (Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee) to plan for an adequate transition to simplify 147 requirements to facilitate a more apprenticeship base type of certification process. This is already a proven method in the EU. Understandably not free of barriers brought by cultural and languistic variations of the member nations. The US, a leader in industry grow at average of about 4% may seem insignificant. But this number translates into unrealistic demands for pilots and maintenance staff which is unsustainable. Pilotless flight is unviable as the FAA struggles with airspace issues with drone and UAMs together with modernization efforts. Unfortunately, 14 CFR 147 is neglected as it seems perception that is has no consequential risk directing A&P schools to further irrelevance.