Heavy Lift Aircraft for Seabasing Combines 19-ton Payload with 300-knot Cruise Capability

The next generation of military heavy lift rotorcraft must be high-speed and capable of conducting long-range combat assaults in support of a full spectrum of combat operations. It must be able to operate in all weather conditions, day or night, from prepared or unprepared surfaces. The aircraft’s capability to achieve cruise airspeeds in the 300 knot regime is based on technology currently being researched at Sikorsky Aircraft and reported in Refs. 1 and 2. The concept, called “Reverse Velocity Rotor (RVR)”, is applied in this report. The authors are grateful to Dale Ashby and Chris Van Buiten of Sikorsky for suggesting this system, which has been incorporated in the design. The Joint Vertical Heavy Lift aircraft is a three-engine, rear loading, single rotor helicopter that utilizes an optimally sized wing to unload the main rotor during high-speed flight. The aircraft retains all the low speed handling qualities of a traditional helicopter but reaps all the benefits of a fixed wing cargo aircraft at cruise speed, with the wing providing 80% of the lift. Maximum range under mission conditions is 615 nautical miles. Maximum gross weight is 120,000 lbs. Maximum cargo capacity is 37,500 lbs. The rotor system is an eight bladed (110 foot diameter), fully articulated, foldable system comparable in size to the existing CH-53E rotor system. Each blade incorporates an RVR airfoil cross section. The rotor system is driven by a lightweight variable speed transmission that allows RPM to be set at either 100% or 50% of operating RPM based on flight mode. The anti-torque system is based on a F135 powered direct thrust jet. Transmission power and auxiliary propulsion are provided by two fuselage mounted F135 derivative engines.