It has an airliner speed — 430 mph, wings, and retractable landing gear. These are some of the characteristics of a new Russian combat helicopter. Outlines of the advanced model have appeared in the western press. Although the allegations haven't been confirmed officially, the concept has made quite a fuss. Judging by the inscriptions on the scheme, the Kamov Design Bureau is developing the project. Indeed, the scheme looks typical for helicopters designed by the holding. However, details on the name and release time remained unknown. According to the terse media reports, now the combat helicopter speed and aerodynamics are being improved. If the data is true, the new helicopter will be revolutionary for the industry experts say. Now Russia's fastest helicopters can fly at half the speed. Not a single helicopter in the world can be compared to a plane.
Evgeny Tishkovets has tried to look to the future.
- Hello, Evgeny.
- Good evening.
- Is it possible?
- Alexey, engineers think so. However, helicopters have never flown at the speed of planes.
The images of the concept are being discussed by experts. It looks like the helicopter will receive a delta wing with a span of about 12 yards. Its length will be 16 yards and its crew will consist of two people. For now, the average speed of helicopters doesn't exceed 186 mph. The record is held by the Eurocopter that is capable of gaining 293 mph. But even this helicopter is far behind the Boeing 747 in terms of speed which flies twice as fast.
There have been a lot of attempts to make helicopters faster. New models of rotorcraft were made which could hardly be called helicopters. But it didn't solve the speed problem. When it came to acceleration, the main advantage of the helicopter — the horizontally positioned rotor, which allows it to land and take off on any terrain, became the main disadvantage. The point is when accelerating over the speed limit, the vehicle started to tilt to the right. The so-called stalled area was larger and the engine thrust was lost. Pilots call this phenomenon "wingheaviness".
Roman Gusarov, Avia.Ru chief editor: "The lifting rotor during horizontal high-speed flight creates great aerodynamic drag. 217 mph is quite a real speed for today. But higher indicators, 300 mph or even 450 mph, seem to be from science fiction or a very difficult task to do at the very least".
Designers experimented a lot with the positions of the rotors. In a classic variant, there are two rotors — the lifting rotor and the tail rotor. The most well-known helicopters were made this way, at the Mil Plant as well. At Kamov, the coaxial rotor system was frequently used with two lifting rotors rotating in opposite directions. There are some unusual variants. In the USA, a helicopter was tested with rotors positioned at an angle to one another. The testing failed though.
In Russia, Kamov and Mil design bureaus continue the work on the high-speed helicopter. They decided to add to the two coaxial rotors of the Ka-92 a rusher rotor on the tail. The designers think this aircraft will be capable of accelerating up to 310 mph. At the Mil Plant, the designers decided to use the classic assembling. They want to increase the speed limit by using an aerodynamic hull with retractable landing gear and a lifting rotor of a new design. According to the latest data, the Mi-X1 will be capable to reach a speed of 323 mph. Now it's 252 mph.
The advanced helicopter, which pictures appeared on the Internet, is quite likely a reincarnation of the Ka-90 concept which was presented 10 years ago at a specialized exhibition. It had a wing as well, but it was also equipped with rotors and a turbojet engine. The Ka-90 would take off like any other helicopter, then the engine would switch on, the rotors would be folded and put into a slot in the top. The project was called a real revolution.
Alexey Leonkov, Arsenal Otechestva expert: "The future high-speed helicopter should become a universal tool in fact. It should be a transport helicopter, it should be an attack helicopter, meaning it should be capable of providing fire support. It can be a universal tool for landing operations and support in common".
What is going on overseas in the field? The Sikorsky S-97 Raider helicopter has been presented recently. It was designed using a prototype made 40 years ago. It managed to accelerate up to 255 mph. Not long ago, the vehicle crashed right after takeoff due to the engine malfunction. It means the USA doesn't have ready-to-go solutions for high-speed helicopters.
- Evgeny Tishkovets on the new Russian weapon.
