Raider

We now have our first look at the U.S. Air Force’s two flying B-21 Raider stealth bombers together at Edwards Air Force Base. The second pre-production B-21 arrived at Edwards yesterday after making its maiden flight from the Air Force’s Plant 42, which TWZ was first to report.

Both of the pre-production B-21s delivered to date are now assigned to the 420th Flight Test Squadron at Edwards, which forms the core element of the B-21 Combined Test Force. Edwards has long been a central hub for Air Force test and evaluation efforts, but saw significant expansion of its facilities starting in the late 2010s, in large part to prepare for the Raider’s arrival.

At least two non-flying Raider airframes are also being used to help with ongoing testing. Four more pre-production Raiders are in various stages of construction at Northrop Grumman’s facility at Plant 42. As of January, Northrop Grumman had received two contracts for low-rate initial production of additional B-21s, as well.

Unlike the first pre-production B-21, which took to the skies for the first time back in November 2023, the second example is still largely devoid of uniquely identifying markings, like serial number, two-letter base code, and unit crests. We can now see that there is a motif on the inside of the nose landing gear bay door featuring an ancient Greek-style helmet with wings spread behind, as well as what looks to be crossed spears below. We have reached out to the Air Force and Northrop Grumman for more information about these symbols and their significance.

The first B-21 has the nickname Cerberus and a silhouette of that three-headed dog from ancient Greek (and later Roman) mythology is painted on the outside of its nose landing gear door. The aircraft also has a bird silhouette painted underneath the nose, an homage to past Northrop corporate logos.

The picture of the two B-21s together at Edwards, as well as other new Raider imagery the Air Force has released in the past day or so, also further underscores the aircraft’s unusual cockpit window arrangement. TWZ has explored the design of the cockpit windows, including the visibility limitations they impose, in detail in the past.

We also now have our first look at the second pre-production B-21 in flight, which offers a new view of the bomber’s conformal inlets. The bomber’s inlets are one of the most exotic known features of the design, as you can read more about here. In general, low observable inlets are among the most critical aspects of a stealthy aircraft, and it has been publicly disclosed that the ones found on the Raider presented significant challenges during development.

The first flight of the second B-21 had already afforded the best look to date of the Raider’s broad underbelly, including its weapons bay configuration. As TWZ wrote yesterday:

“The high-resolution image of the underside of the second B-21 is particularly notable in that it shows a single main bay. The other two sets of outboard door apertures are seen sealed shut with fasteners lining their perimeters. They also appear to be at least configured for radiofrequency (RF) sensor apertures. Together, this all points to the Raider only having a single large central weapons bay, not a pair of smaller additional ones on the side, a possibility that had been raised in the past. You can read about speculation regarding these bays here. Regardless, this could possibly change in the future, but, at this time, these appear to be access doors to the engines and other systems, not auxiliary weapons bays.”

In a press release yesterday, the Air Force touted the testing benefits that will come from now having two B-21s at Edwards.

“The addition of the second aircraft expands the Air Force’s testing capabilities beyond initial flight performance checks, enabling progression into critical mission systems and weapon integration testing phases. This advancement marks a significant step toward operational readiness of the nation’s sixth-generation stealth bomber,” according to the release. “The presence of multiple test aircraft at Edwards AFB also provides Air Force maintainers invaluable hands-on experience in managing simultaneous aircraft sustainment operations, testing the effectiveness of maintenance tools, technical data and the logistical processes that will support future operational squadrons.”

A separate press release from Northrop Grumman also highlighted plans to demonstrate an “enhanced software package” that will allow it to “deliver seamless upgrades to the B-21 fleet, ensuring its mission capability and weapons evolve to outpace any threat.” Beyond opening up a more streamlined path to integrating new and improved functionality down the line, the Raider’s heavy use of open-architecture, software-defined mission systems has already been a boon to the aircraft’s initial development.

“We are capitalizing on the revolution in digital [processes] – models-based systems engineering, open mission systems architecture software,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, then Director of Strategic Plans, Programs, and Requirements at Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), offered as an example back in 2022. “As an example, the software for the fuel control system, which is a pretty complex thing, is completely done on an aircraft that hasn’t even flown yet as a test article, because of how we’re able to do models-based systems engineering. And they actually built a fuel systems model and tested the software, and the software is ready to go.”

Armagost is now commander of the Eighth Air Force, which oversees all of the Air Force’s operational bomber fleets.

The Air Force’s current stated goal is to begin fielding the B-21 operationally before the end of the decade. The service plans to buy at least 100 of the bombers, though there are growing signs that the final fleet size could be larger, as you can read more about here.

“Concurrent with the expanded flight-testing effort, fiscal year 2026 will see the launch of extensive military construction projects at all three designated B-21 main operating bases,” the Air Force noted in its press release yesterday. “Ellsworth AFB, S.D., the first base set to receive operational B-21 aircraft, is already progressing rapidly on numerous infrastructure projects to ensure readiness when the aircraft arrive.”

With the help now of a second B-21, the test force at Edwards will continue to expand its work helping to pave the way toward future Raider operations.

Contact the author: [email protected]

A video has emerged that shows the maiden flight of a second pre-production B-21 Raider stealth bomber. Since July, U.S. Air Force officials have been openly talking about their hope to have two B-21s flying ‘soon.’

Jarod Hamilton, who also specializes in low-level aircraft photography, shared the footage of the B-21 taking off from the Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, at around 8:00 AM local time. The video, seen below, shows the bomber continuing to fly with its landing gear down, which is indicative of initial flight testing. The Raider does lack the air data probe and trailing cone that were seen when the very first B-21 flew back in 2023. An F-16 chase plane is also seen flying alongside.

“We [a group of plane spotters outside Plant 42] saw the B-21 roll out and then it sat there and we waited for it,” Hamilton told TWZ. “We heard the engine noise and thought maybe they were doing taxi tests. But when the F-16 showed up, I knew.”

“It was incredible,” he said of seeing the Raider take off. “The sound, the power, I’ll never forget.”

Hamilton said he did not know how long the flight may have lasted, but tracked it for a few minutes until it was out of sight. The bomber may have flown to Edwards Air Force Base, which is also in California and currently hosts the B-21 Combined Test Force.

TWZ has also reached out to the Air Force for confirmation and further details.

The first of six pre-production B-21s also made its maiden flight in November 2023 from Plant 42 and subsequently moved to Edwards. The Raider’s prime contractor, Northrop Grumman, is building the bombers at Plant 42, which is a major hub for advanced and often classified aerospace development work.

“So this is an event-based process, based on the test team, the contractor, [and] the program office. I believe it [the first flight of the second B-21] will happen by the end of the year, but we’re not going to ever give them an artificial date that they have to make if it doesn’t bring the test program along to where they need to be,” Air Force Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara said during a virtual talk hosted by the Air & Space Forces Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies in August. “We’re going to proceed as we can, efficiently, effectively, and with a sense of urgency, but we’re also going to be event-based.”

“That’s really been the secret sauce to the B-21 right now, is no undue pressures. Let them do what they’re doing, and they’ll get us the world’s best aircraft here,” Gebara, who is currently Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, added at that time.

A second B-21 could make its first flight “shortly,” Air Force Gen. Thomas Bussiere, head of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), had told Air & Space Forces Magazine in July. The service had previously told that outlet that its goal was for a pair of B-21s to be in flight testing in 2026. Northrop Grumman has also delivered at least two non-flying airframes to help with the test campaign.

Getting another B-21 into the air is an important new step forward for the Raider program that will allow for the further expansion of testing efforts. As of September 2024, the first flying B-21 was said to be making around two sorties every week from Edwards Air Force Base.

“The B-21 [program] is producing, its results-oriented in flight tests, basically on time, [and] basically on budget,” Gen. Gebara also said last month.

As it stands, the Air Force’s goal is to begin fielding the B-21 operationally before the end of the decade. The service also plans to buy at least 100 of the bombers, though that figure is increasingly expected to grow, as you can read more about here.

In the meantime, the Air Force’s current fleet of flying B-21s has now grown to two.

Update: 1:55 PM Eastern –

Jarod Hamilton has kindly shared additional still images from today’s B-21 flight from Palmdale with us.

Update: 3:35 PM Eastern –

The U.S. Air Force has now confirmed the first flight of the second B-21 and that the bomber has arrived at Edwards Air Force Base.

“With the arrival of the second B-21 Raider, our flight test campaign gains substantial momentum,” Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink said in a statement. “We can now expedite critical evaluations of mission systems and weapons capabilities, directly supporting the strategic deterrence and combat effectiveness envisioned for this aircraft.”

The second B-21 Raider has taken flight! With two B-21s now flying, our test campaign accelerates.

We’re advancing mission system & weapons evaluations to ensure this aircraft delivers unmatched strategic deterrence and combat power for the @usairforce. #B21Raider #AirPower

— Office of the Secretary of the Air Force (@SecAFOfficial) September 11, 2025

“The addition of a second B-21 to the flight test program accelerates the path to fielding,” Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin also said in a statement. “By having more assets in the test environment, we bring this capability to our warfighters faster, demonstrating the urgency with which we’re tackling modernization.”

“The B-21 Raider program represents a cornerstone of our strategic nuclear modernization,” Allvin continued. “The concurrent efforts in testing, sustainment preparation and infrastructure investments clearly illustrate our commitment to providing unmatched capabilities to deter and defeat threats well into the future.”

An Air Force press release highlights the value of adding a second flying bomber to the B-21 Combined Test Force, as TWZ already noted.

“The addition of the second aircraft expands the Air Force’s testing capabilities beyond initial flight performance checks, enabling progression into critical mission systems and weapons integration testing phases. This advancement marks a significant step toward operational readiness of the nation’s sixth-generation stealth bomber,” according to the release. “The presence of multiple test aircraft at Edwards AFB also provides Air Force maintainers invaluable hands-on experience in managing simultaneous aircraft sustainment operations, testing the effectiveness of maintenance tools, technical data and the logistical processes that will support future operational squadrons.”

“Concurrent with the expanded flight-testing effort, fiscal year 2026 will see the launch of extensive military construction projects at all three designated B-21 main operating bases,” the release adds. “Ellsworth AFB, S.D., the first base set to receive operational B-21 aircraft, is already progressing rapidly on numerous infrastructure projects to ensure readiness when the aircraft arrive.”

Northrop Grumman has also put out its own press release following today’s first flight of the second B-21, which it described as “robust.”

“The next phase of flight test moves beyond flight performance and into the weapons and mission systems that make B-21 an unrivaled stealth bomber. An enhanced software package will demonstrate how Northrop Grumman will deliver seamless upgrades to the B-21 fleet, ensuring its mission capability and weapons evolve to outpace any threat,” the company’s release explains. “The flight test expansion complements a robust ground test campaign that includes multiple B-21 aircraft. Engineers have rigorously tested the B-21 to certify it can fly in the most extreme mission conditions and are demonstrating the B-21’s durability by simulating lifetimes of flight conditions. These test results continue to consistently outperform digital modeling predictions, reinforcing confidence in the B-21’s performance and progress.”

“Northrop Grumman is preparing the Air Force to operate and maintain the B-21 through its advanced training and sixth-gen fleet management tools. The company is developing comprehensive training capabilities – to include high-fidelity, full-motion simulators, immersive labs and virtual spaces – as part of the Air Force’s Formal Training Unit at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota. Northrop Grumman is creating training content and devices for future pilots, weapons loaders, maintainers and support personnel to operate the world’s most advanced aircraft,” it continues. “Future Air Force maintainers will use the B-21 Fleet Management Tool Northrop Grumman is developing today for the aircraft’s sustainment and maintenance activities. Already equipped with flight test and performance data and informed by decades of sustainment experience across a variety of systems, the Fleet Management Tool will keep the B-21 mission ready for the American warfighter.”

Special thanks again to Jarod Hamilton for sharing the new imagery of the B-21 flying from Palmdale today with us.

Contact the author: [email protected]

The U.S. Air Force is hoping to see a second pre-production B-21 Raider stealth bomber take to the skies before the end of the year. The service also says it has conducted four more flight tests of the AGM-181A Long-Range Standoff (LRSO) cruise missile, which will be a key nuclear weapon for the B-21, so far this year.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Andrew Gebara, Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, provided updates on the B-21 program and other topics today during a virtual talk hosted by the Air & Space Forces Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

“So this is an event-based process, based on the test team, the contractor, [and] the program office. I believe it [the first flight of the second B-21] will happen by the end of the year, but we’re not going to ever give them an artificial date that they have to make if it doesn’t bring the test program along to where they need to be,” Gebara said. “We’re going to proceed as we can, efficiently, effectively, and with a sense of urgency, but we’re also going to be event-based.

“That’s really been the secret sauce to the B-21 right now, is no undue pressures. Let them do what they’re doing, and they’ll get us the world’s best aircraft here,” Gebara added.

In July, Air Force Gen. Thomas Bussiere, head of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), had told Air & Space Forces Magazine that the second B-21 could take to the skies “shortly.” The service had previously told that outlet that its goal was for two B-21s to be flying in 2026.

The first of six pre-production B-21s made its maiden flight in November 2023. As of September 2024, the bomber was said to be flying around two sorties every week from Edwards Air Force Base in California in support of ongoing testing.

The B-21’s manufacturer, Northrop Grumman, has also delivered two non-flying airframes to help with the test campaign. As of January, Northrop Grumman had received two contracts for low-rate initial production of additional B-21s, as well.

“The B-21 [program] is producing, its results-oriented in flight tests, basically on time, [and] basically on budget,” Gen. Gebara added in his remarks today.

U.S. military officials and members of Congress have described the Raider as a model acquisition program for years now. The Air Force’s goal is to begin flying B-21s operationally before the end of the decade.

When asked today about the expected size of the B-21 fleet, Gen. Gebara said that work is still ongoing to reach a firm number. The Air Force’s stated plan now is to acquire at least 100 Raiders, but that figure is widely expected to grow. Congress notably included $4.5 billion in funding to help accelerate B-21 production in a reconciliation funding bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in July. The Pentagon is asking for billions more to support the Raider program in its 2026 Fiscal Year budget request.

“I think the work you’ve seen from the Congress to get us those additional funding [sic] tells me a couple things that are very important. One is, it’s going to go a long ways to be able to help us facilitize and get to the point where we can build this thing at scale,” Gebara said. “I think the other piece to it, though, is it’s an absolute show of confidence by the Congress that we’re on the right track on this program. We’ve done a lot of work to hold changes to the minimum, to allow the program office and the contractor to get after it, and it’s paying dividends.”

The final B-21 fleet “numbers will absolutely be reliant on the work STRATCOM [U.S. Strategic Command] is doing, on what is sufficient,” Gebara added. “But it’s important to remember this is also the backbone of our conventional force. And so we aren’t building out B-21 numbers only for our [nuclear] triad. We’re also building it out for our long-range [conventional] strike capability. And so all that will that will go into it.”

Gebara’s latter points here are directly in line with comments from Air Force Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost at a separate Mitchell Institute virtual talk earlier this month. Armagost, who is commander of the Eighth Air Force, which oversees all of the Air Force’s current bomber fleets, spoke at length about the new operational possibilities that will come from having a substantial number of B-21s, particularly in light of the ‘silver bullet’ nature of the current B-2 force. The Air Force has just 19 B-2s, not all of which are ever available for taskings, conventional or nuclear, at any one time. This inherently imposes limitations, which the B-21 is not expected to be burdened with, despite being a smaller aircraft with less ordnance capacity per bomber, as you can read more about in detail here.

“Our bomber force right now is optimized for raids and small-scale, a few nights at a time [type operations],” Gen. Gebra said today, something that was highlighted by the Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on nuclear sites in Iran in June. “There’s no guarantee that’ll be the case in the future.”

All this being said, the B-21 will still have a critical nuclear deterrent role, including as a launch platform for the stealthy AGM-181 LRSO cruise missile. The LRSO is also set to be part of the future arsenal for the Air Force’s B-52 bombers, which are being deeply upgraded, overall, as you can learn more about here.

“Our LRSO missile, which will go on our bomber force, has had four successful flight tests in 2025 alone,” Gebera said during today’s talk. “Based on time, based on budget, it’s going very well.”

Flight testing of the LRSO has already been underway for years. However, other details about the highly classified missile, which Raytheon is been developing, remain limited. The Air Force released the first-ever public rendering of the missile, seen below, in June. You can find TWZ‘s previous analysis of that image, which may not necessarily reflect the current design, here.

The B-21 and LRSO are also both part of a larger Long-Range Strike (LRS) family of systems, much of which remains in the classified realm, as TWZ has explored in the past.

By all indications, the B-21 program continues to make steady progress, with a second Raider set to take to the skies sometime in the coming weeks or months.

Contact the author: [email protected]

Just three days after imagery surfaced of China’s first known crewed tiltrotor aircraft to take to the air, we have gotten our first sight of a previously unknown compound coaxial helicopter. The aircraft, the designation of which remains unknown, is also now undergoing test flights and is a direct clone of the U.S.-made Sikorsky S-97 Raider. The development confirms that China, too, is looking at harnessing the benefits of this kind of aircraft, which offers much higher speeds than a conventional helicopter, as well as increased maneuverability.

The images showing the new compound coaxial helicopter emerged today, apparently first being posted to China’s Weibo microblogging site. They show the rotorcraft in flight and immediately betray its close connection to the S-97. Most fundamentally, the Chinese design adopts the same propulsion configuration, with four-blade coaxial main rotors — which looks like a rigid design — and a pusher propeller. The Chinese aircraft appears to be of almost identical size and also has the same ‘tadpole’-like fuselage shape and landing gear configuration. Like the S-97, the Chinese helicopter also has a relatively large, plank-like horizontal tail with endplate tailfins. However, the tailfin design is different, with the larger part of the fin projecting above the tailplane, rather than below it.

At this point, it’s worth recalling that this is far from the first Chinese design to share a significant superficial resemblance to a Western aircraft. In the rotary field, the Harbin Z-20 helicopter is widely regarded as a Chinese clone of the H-60/S-70 Black Hawk/Seahawk, while the Chinese FH-97 drone looks like a carbon copy of the XQ-58A Valkyrie. These are just two examples, and while accusations of simply aping existing Western designs are an oversimplification, China has been accused on multiple occasions of hacking detailed design information from U.S. aerospace defense contractors.

Regardless of what kinds of Western technologies may have been exploited for its new compound coaxial helicopter, it’s interesting that China is now making a foray into this field and that it’s following the established S-97 design so closely.

Sikorsky’s S-97 prototype, which is a descendant of the same company’s X-2 and X-49 demonstrators, was developed as an 80-percent surrogate for the larger Raider X and weighed around 14,000 pounds. In tests, the helicopter has achieved speeds in excess of 200 knots, well beyond the top speeds of conventional rotorcraft. While the Raider X has a more pointed nose and a reversed landing gear arrangement, the aircraft were otherwise essentially very similar in form.

The Raider X was Sikorsky’s pitch for the U.S. Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program, in which it went up against Bell’s 360 Invictus, a conventional single-main-rotor helicopter with a canted tail rotor. FARA was conceived as filling the armed scout role vacated by the retirement of the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. That mission was then performed by RQ-7 Shadow and MQ-1C Gray Eagle drones teamed with AH-64 Apache attack helicopters. While it was expected that FARA could replace a significant number of AH-64s currently in the Army’s inventory, the program was axed in early 2024, as you can read about here.

Central to the compound coaxial configuration of the S-97/Raider X (and now the analogous Chinese rotorcraft) is the pusher prop in the tail and the rigid, contrarotating rotors that eliminate the need for a tail rotor. The pusher prop allows for bursts of speed and rapid deceleration, increased maneuverability, and a higher sustained cruise speed. Range will also be increased compared to a standard helicopter, although not to such an extent as a tiltrotor. Unlike a conventional helicopter, a compound coaxial like this can fly forward with its nose up or backward with its nose pointed at the ground, while the Raider has routinely demonstrated an ability to ‘pirouette’ nose-down around a single point.

These compound coaxial helicopters can also fly at top speed while maintaining a level attitude, compared to a regular helicopter that has to point its nose down to accelerate forward. In forward flight, the pusher prop can be activated, and the spinning rotors are slowed to act more like wings than rotors, reducing drag and boosting speed and efficiency. Essentially, unlike a standard helicopter where the blades create lift during only part of their rotation, the rotor blades generate lift on both sides of the aircraft as they spin.

Speed is very far from a promise of immunity to battlefield threats, but it is certainly a valuable enhancement. It translates to reduced exposure to threats, including traditional ground fire, with less reaction time for the enemy to make a successful engagement. Other advantages of speed include reduced transit times to combat areas and the possibility of escaping certain threats with a high-speed dash.

FARA was a flop, while Sikorsky’s Defiant X — on which Sikorsky is teamed with Boeing — was a contender for the U.S. Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) program that will eventually replace at least portions of the UH-60 Black Hawk fleet. The Defiant X shared the same basic configuration as the S-97/Raider X, but was scaled up to the 30,000-pound class. In the event, it lost out to the Bell’s V-280 Valor advanced tiltrotor for FLRAA.

This means that Sikorsky’s compound coaxial helicopters currently don’t have a foothold in the small and medium categories within the U.S. Army’s broader Future Vertical Lift (FVL) initiative, which included FARA and FLRAA.

That’s not to say the concept is dead, however, and China clearly thinks its capabilities are worth exploring.

It’s also notable that the appearance of China’s new compound coaxial helicopter comes so soon after it was confirmed that its first known crewed tiltrotor aircraft was also being flight-tested.

This mirrors the competing design philosophies for FLRAA in the United States, and it’s certainly conceivable that a decision might be made between the compound coaxial and tiltrotor designs to inform what one or more next-generation rotorcraft for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might look like. At the same time, it’s also possible that China envisages a discrete role for the two different rotorcraft configurations. With the likelihood that these are demonstrators, there’s also potential for one or both of them to be scaled up, in much the same way that Sikorsky leveraged the S-97 design for both the Raider X and the larger Defiant X.

Equally fascinating is to consider how the PLA might envisage the future of rotorcraft on the battlefield more generally.

Amid concerns around survivability, the relevance of rotorcraft is now a major point of discussion, fueled by emerging lessons from both sides of the war in Ukraine. In this theater, conventional rotorcraft have suffered greatly, especially at the hands of forces armed with man-portable air defense weapons (MANPADS), while lower-end drones are also a fast-emerging threat, in Ukraine and elsewhere.

A Russian Mi-24/35 series helicopter is shot down by a Ukrainian missile, likely from a MANPADS:

Looking at the Indo-Pacific theater specifically, TWZ has, in the past, weighed up the arguments for canceling FARA as the Pentagon increasingly reconfigures for the possibility of a high-end fight with China in this region.

As TWZ’s Tyler Rogoway wrote at the time, in regard to FARA:

“Procuring hundreds of highly complex helicopters with relatively short-range capabilities — even those that are uniquely optimized for more range and speed than their predecessors — at great cost makes no sense when it comes to a fight in the Pacific. The opportunity cost of the dollars that would be spent on FARA instead of more relevant priorities and emerging technologies is just far too large for what the Army would be getting in return.”

“In a Pacific fight, for the vast majority of use cases, FARA, even with its enhanced range, will not be able to get from anything resembling a feasibly secure basing location to where they can have a major impact and survive to do so repeatedly. The most likely outcome is that these aircraft would have little to do during such a conflict, not because they are not highly capable, but because they simply can’t get to the areas where the fight is occurring, and the odds of returning home alive would be questionable even if they could.”

For the PLA, the situation is a little different, in that it would be better able to preposition its rotary assets ahead of a conflict and, while the distances to cover are still huge, support assets, spares, and other parts of the logistics trail are that much closer to where the fighting would be taking place.

Even in peacetime, China has a significant requirement to deliver cargoes to remote locations, including island outposts in the South China Sea. China also has access to a growing fleet of amphibious assault ships that would be ideal platforms for hosting advanced rotorcraft.

China is keenly aware of the need to maintain wartime operations without access to conventional airstrips, and helicopters would play a fundamental part in this.

On the other hand, even with the additional speed and agility that a compound coaxial offers, helicopters of any kind remain vulnerable when operating on a modern battlefield, with its layered air defenses. When it comes to the attack and reconnaissance roles, survivability increasingly depends on the respective ranges between the helicopter and its target. With that in mind, the kinds of weapons and sensors that production versions of China’s next-generation rotorcraft might field are just as important as the airframes themselves.

There’s also the question of how China sees the future balance between crewed rotorcraft and different kinds of uncrewed aircraft on the battlefield. Already, it is looking at the potential of tiltrotor designs that can be either crewed or uncrewed. China’s huge pivot toward uncrewed air systems will likely also see these play a hugely important role alongside crewed helicopters in a mutually beneficial force mix.

At this point, there are more questions than answers about China’s new compound coaxial helicopter, with a lack of clarity about its intended role as well as its design authority. On the other hand, it’s notable in itself that China is now exploring rotary technologies that should allow speeds of close to double that of conventional helicopters.

Even though Sikorsky says it still has hopes for its X-2 technology, it would be highly ironic if its potential ends up being exploited by America’s top pacing threat, China.

Contact the author: [email protected]