Why This New Attack Helicopter Is Expected To Be So Revolutionary

The United States Army has a massive fleet of helicopters, one of which is the OH-58 Kiowa. The chopper was first introduced in the late 1960s, and the Army has been hard at work developing a replacement. One such effort was the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, which saw the development of two notable helicopters, the Bell 360 Invictus and the revolutionary Sikorsky Raider X, which was developed from the S-97 Raider.

The Army canceled FARA, abandoning plans to produce a replacement for the retired OH-58, leaving both choppers in limbo. Despite this, the Raider X lives on, and while the Army isn't a buyer, others are interested across the pond. The Raider X is designed to be highly agile and features a dual compound coaxial rotor system with a single pusher propeller. This design eschews those previously used in military helicopters operated by the U.S. by embracing advanced and more rigid rotor blades that increase maneuverability. It also boasts low-speed hover, level acceleration and braking, as well as off-axis hover capabilities.

The S-97 Raider features a similar design, and several prototypes were built. Sikorsky initially designed it for the Army's since-canceled Armed Aerial Scout program. The Raider X uses novel technologies intended to reduce overall maintenance requirements by enabling a self-monitoring maintenance reduction system. Because maintenance costs are one of the most expensive aspects of helicopter use in and out of the military, this is an ideal evolution of the tech.

Because the Raider X was being developed for the U.S. Army, it needed to meet and exceed the capabilities of some of the service's oldest military helicopters. In that regard, Sikorsky developed the Raider X using the Modular Open System Approach (MOSA), which enables the helicopter to adapt to new weapon systems for evolving mission requirements. It's also a plug-and-play system, making modifications and upgrades easier and more affordable. This makes the Raider X more easily used for a variety of mission types.

Unfortunately, the Army passed, but Sikorsky hasn't given up on its revolutionary design. The company took the S-97 Raider to the Paris Air Show 2025 to tout its impressive capabilities. While Sikorsky produced three S-97s, it doesn't appear as if the company built any prototypes of the Raider X ... yet. Sikorsky brought the S-97 as a potential competitor for Europe's Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC) project, which supports NATO allies. Technically, the U.S. is only an observer in the NGRC, but the Connecticut-based subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, Sikorsky, which manufactures a significant number of military helicopters, was allowed to attend.

Sikorsky had previously received a contract alongside Airbus and Leonardo from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). Because of this, the company is moving forward with attempts to get its helicopters off the ground, pun definitely intended. As of September 2025, it's unclear how successful Sikorsky will be in this effort, but there's no denying that the S-97 Raider and Raider X are innovative designs that could be used by a variety of militaries around the globe.