Airbus Helicopters’ Racer takes first flight

The Racer, developed in the frame of the European Research Clean Sky 2 project, flew for about 30 minutes, which allowed Airbus Helicopters’ flight test team to check the ‘overall behaviour’ of the aircraft.

This debut flight marks the beginning of a two-year campaign which the company said will aim to progressively open the aircraft’s flight envelope and demonstrate its high-speed capabilities.

In a statement, Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, said: “With its 90 patents, Racer is the perfect example of the level of innovation that can be achieved when European partners come together. This first flight is a proud moment for Airbus Helicopters and for our 40 partners in 13 countries.

“I look forward to watching this demonstrator pioneer high speed capabilities and develop the eco-mode system that will contribute to reducing fuel consumption.”

With a cruise speed of over 400km/h, Airbus Helicopters said its Racer demonstrator aims to achieve the best trade-off between speed, cost-efficiency, and mission performance.

The aircraft also targets a fuel consumption reduction of around 20 per cent, compared to current generation helicopters of the same class, with its aerodynamic optimisation and an eco-mode propulsion system.

A hybrid-electrical eco system, developed with Safran Helicopter Engines, allows one of the two Aneto-1X engines to be paused while in cruise flight, which Airbus Helicopters said can contribute to cutting CO2 emissions. The Racer also aims to demonstrate how its architecture can contribute to lowering its operational acoustic footprint.

The Racer builds upon the aerodynamic configuration of the company’s X3 technology demonstrator which broke the speed record and pushed the limits for a helicopter by reaching 472km/h in 2013.

While the aim of the X3 was to validate the compound architecture, combining fixed wings for energy efficient lift, lateral rotors for energy-efficient propulsion and a main rotor that provides energy-efficient VTOL flight capacity, the company said Racer aims to take the compound formula closer to an operational configuration, to offer increased capabilities for missions in which high speed can be an advantage.