GKN Westland is pursuing an advanced compound-helicopter design which could potentially be "retrofitted" to the Westland/Agusta EH101 military utility helicopter.
The company is working on a concept using a fuselage-mounted wing to provide additional lift and control.
Westland says that the work is continuing. Previous research into the compound design had been carried out in conjunction with the UK Defence Research Agency, with Ministry of Defence (MoD) funding. The current phase of the project is being independently funded by Westland. Rolls-Royce has also been involved.
The company views the concept as a less-radical "alternative to the tilt-rotor", with the wing offering performance improvements in "speed, range, and handling, with improvements in the level of vibration". Westland is also a partner in the European Eurofar tilt-rotor consortium.
A compound design would allow the aircraft to be flown at speeds up to 250kt (460km/h), rather than at around the 150kt of conventional helicopter designs.
Westland says that, if it pursues the development of the technology, it will be used on existing, rather than new, designs. "If this technology is to go ahead, then it will feed into an existing product," the company says.
Design and development work remains at the computer-modelling stage, with the company saying that the "-next stage would be to move toward aerodynamic testing, using windtunnel models for proof-of-concept work".
This would eventually lead to using either a modified EH101 or Lynx airframe as a full-scale demonstrator. The company says that it does not envisage this occurring before the turn of the century.
Westland will not fully develop the compound concept unless it has a customer for a compound lift variant of the EH101.
"We need a customer to fund the project with the company," the company says.
The emergence of an MoD requirement for a helicopter with a greater lift and range capability would provide the impetus to launch the project. As yet, however, no such defence-ministry requirement exists.
Source: Flight International
