ANALYSIS: Skyworks gyrocopter returns from the brink - skyworks.jpg

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Skyworks Global’s retro gyrocopter concept took a turn back toward the serious
via a partnership with Northrop Grumman-owned Scaled Composites to design, build
and test its first prototype aircraft.

Utah-based Skyworks believes its VertiJet gyrocopter could have a 348kt
(644km/h) cruise speed with a range of 1,000nm (1,852km). The company thinks it
could have a prototype flying in 18 to 24 months now that it has the rapid
prototyping expertise of Scaled Composites backing its project. It declined to
share details of the partnership, including what specific role Scaled Composites
will play.

Originally a small publicly traded company called Groen Brothers Aviation before
being renamed in 2017, Skyworks has been designing and selling small
gyrocopters, including home-built kits, since the 1980s. The firm takes its
inspiration for its VertiJet project from the British Fairey Rotodyne, a large
compound gyrocopter built in the 1950s that used tipjets on the end of its
rotorblades to take off and land vertically. That aircraft development project
was cancelled partly due to the excessive noise the tipjets generated.

For its part, Skywork’s compound gyrocopter has advanced in fits and starts. In
2005, the company received funds from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) to design a proof-of-concept high-speed, long range, vertical
take-off and landing gyrodyne rotorcraft, called Heliplane, intended as a
demonstrator aircraft for potential use in combat search and rescue roles.
However, when the DARPA contract was terminated in 2008 the company collapsed,
nearly filing for bankruptcy before it was rescued by investor Steve Stevanovich
in 2012. The firm previously claimed that the contract was cancelled due to
military funding constraints during the 2008 economic downturn.

Now, with Scaled Composites on its team, Skyworks is seeking another lease on
life for its compound gyrocopter.

“We certainly want to leverage the capabilities of Scaled Composites,” says Don
Woodbury, Skyworks’ chief technology advisor and former DARPA Heliplane
programme manager. “They are really, if not the world's leading, one of the
leading prototyping companies in the world. We're very excited about their
potential contributions to the team.”

Founded by aerospace engineer Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites of Mojave,
California is known for rapidly prototyping aircraft, flying on average one new
aircraft per year. For instance, the company was responsible for the year-long
development of the Model 355, which later became the optionally piloted Northrop
Grumman Firebird, a reconnaissance aircraft.

A gyrocopter differs from a helicopter in that the aircraft’s unpowered rotor
creates lift through autorotation; that is, when forward thrust provided by a
propeller or jet turbine engine causes air to flow over the rotors. Skywork’s
compound gyrocopter adds tipjets to the end of its rotors to power vertical
takeoff and landing. The aircraft is powered by jet turbines and has wings to
add lift during horizontal flight.

Skyworks contends that the compound gyrocopter tipjet system reduces complexity
by removing the rotor mast and transmission. Simplicity ought to make the
aircraft cheaper than comparable compound helicopters or tiltrotors, such as the
Sikorsky S-97 Raider or Bell V-280 Valor, says Woodbury. In addition, the
ability to transition from vertical takeoff to flight on a wing allows the
aircraft to travel more efficiently and at greater speeds than a traditional
helicopter, he says.


more at
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...-brink-459680/



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