Helikopter - Rask maskin produseres av Airbus Helicopters - AIN

 

March 7, 2022

Airbus Racer on Pace for 2022 First Flight

Delayed two years by program management complexities and the pandemic, Airbus Helicopters’ Rapid and Cost-Efficient Rotorcraft (Racer) is now expected to achieve first flight later this year, according to program chief engineer Brice Makinadjian. The first assembly phase of the compound high-speed rotorcraft took place at Airbus Helicopters' site in Donauwörth, Germany, and the demonstrator was transferred to the company's Marignane, France site seven months ago for final assembly.

“We have now received almost 100 percent of all parts from our partners in the Clean Sky 2 contract,” Makinadjian said, referring to the European Union’s public-private aerospace research initiative that awarded €200 million ($227 million) for the project. Following fatigue testing, the aircraft's three-meter-long shafts are scheduled to return to Marignane this month. Airbus expects to receive the main gearbox in June and lateral gearboxes later this year from Avio Aero.

Powered by a pair of 2,500-shp Safran Aneto-1X engines, Racer is designed to cruise at 220 knots, nearly twice as fast as a conventional helicopter, and fly 400 nm. Up to a 15 percent reduction in fuel burn can be achieved when one of the two engines is placed in standby mode during cruise flight.

The flight-test campaign will validate Racer against Clean Sky 2 goals of 20 percent lower CO2 and NOx emissions, as well as 20 percent less noise than current helicopters.