Sikorsky and Boeing are rumored to be just weeks away from finalizing the design review of their new high-speed SB-1 Defiant prototype. The helicopter is competing with the Bell V-280 for the US Army’s new Joint Multi-Role program. The SB-1 is designed with enough capacity for 4 aircrew and 12 troops. The two advanced copters are competing to replace the current generation UH-60 Black Hawk and AH-64 Apache helicopters. The core composite structure will be built by Swift Engineering, based in San Clemente, California. The unit will then be shipped to the Boeing Apache production plant in Mesa, Arizona. Once the Boeing work is completed, the prototype will go to the Sikorsky rotorcraft facility in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Defiant critical to Boeing’s defense future
Boeing’s work on the Defiant is critical to its defense business moving forward. The next generation helicopter competition follows the company’s loss of the long range strike bomber contract to Northrop Grumman, and its protest of the award which followed. The contracts value was not disclosed, but is estimated to be worth $21.4 billion. Sikorsky-Boeing is currently running behind Bell, which took delivery of its competing V-280 composite fuselage from Spirit AeroSystems last year. The fuselage and the wings of the V-280 are being assembled at Bell’s facility in Amarillo, Texas. The Boeing combat jet order book now only has the F-15 and F-18 fighter jets remaining on it, with the last scheduled delivery in 2019. Unless the company can secure foreign orders for the F-15 and F-18 fighter jets, Boeing may have to shutter its defense manufacturing facilities in St. Louis, Missouri.
