Sikorsky expects to restart X2 research later this year
By Rebecca Christie
Last Update: 5:34 PM ET Jan 19, 2007

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- United Technologies Corp. (UTX) unit Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. expects to restart research on its X2 next-generation helicopter later this year, Sikorsky President Jeff Pino told Dow Jones Newswires.

Sikorsky launched the X2 project in 2005, with hopes of first flight by the end of 2006. But the project was shelved last year, while Sikorsky coped with a 10-week strike amid surging demand for its military helicopters.
Now the company is mulling when to take the research project off the back burner. Plans call for a small-scale, manned helicopter to test designs for an aircraft with two rotors stacked on top of the aircraft. These rotors would spin in different directions and allow the X2 to fly faster than a conventional helicopter.

"We're probably, I would say, months away from turning it back on full force," Pino said in a Thursday interview on the sidelines of a Washington-area military aviation conference.

First flight is probably two and half months away from whenever the project picks up speed, he said. "It's being kept warm. It's got a low level of activity that makes sense right now," Pino said.

Analysts said there's no reason Sikorksy should be in a rush.

"New helicopter technology is waiting on a market that's not going to happen for decades," said aircraft analyst Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group, a Washington-area consulting firm, in a Friday telephone interview.
The U.S. military is in the midst of a massive combat aircraft purchase. Over the next decade, the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps will be buying thousands of currently available helicopters like Sikorsky's Black Hawks and Boeing Co. (BA) Chinooks.

"You've got this tremendous recapitalization need after Iraq and Afghanistan. That crowds out new technology," Aboulafia said.

Pino said Sikorsky had resolved issues with its Black Hawk production line that triggered concern from Pentagon auditors late last year. All of Sikorsky's Black Hawk lines are in good shape heading into 2007, he said.

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