Future High Speed Helicopter and next generation rotorcraft

latenlazy said:

What if?

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I think that's just SB-1 with some wingtip weapons, and if this new thing is a dedicated attack helicopter it should have the slimmer profile.

I think there's been more credible indicators that they've been working on coaxial+pusher propeller configuration, than that model which I don't think shows an actual project.

Deino said:

Is this real or just fan-art? Never heard of this company! ... and how large is "large" in that case?

"中航智無人機公司發表的傾轉旋翼無人機概念圖，正在進行生產，第一架原型機今年可以下線，今年可以看到幾款全新的大型傾轉旋翼無人機"

Translated:
"The concept drawing of the tilt-rotor drone published by AVIC Drone Company is in production. The first prototype will be rolled off the assembly line this year. Several new large-scale tilt-rotor drones can be seen this year."

(via @柳成梁 on FB)

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An update from the 2024 Singapore Airshow from the company United Aircraft:




The company said that the 1st prototype of said tiltrotor drone (model name UR6000) will be present during the Zhuhai Expo later this year.

The UR6000 is a 6-ton tiltrotor drone which is planned for autonomous cargo delivery in the near term, and will be further developed to ferry 7-10 passengers in the long term.

ACuriousPLAFan said:

Some information on said new WZ-XX attack helicopter, mentioned by Yankee, @伏尔戈星图 and others:
1. First flight already conducted two months ago (or earlier), now undergoing various verification trials;
2. Less likely to be an AH-64 Apache-counterpart (medium attack helicopter), more likely to be a Kh-52 Alligator-counterpart (heavy attack helicopter); and
3. To feature rigid coaxial twin rotors and a pusher propeller.

If the above information are indeed accurate, we could be looking at a larger and heavily-armed S-97 or SB-1.

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Another possible look of the next-gen WIP heavy attack helicopter, based on the information that we have so far. CGI made by Big Bun on Weibo.

Here's an interesting tiltrotor concept. Each nacelle has two rotors, one is facing up and the other facing down.

Only reason why I see this being useful is if you don't have high enough power engines and need to use two of them.
But in that case you should just use a push pull configuration. That kind of configuration where the engines aren't in line with each other will probably result in unnecessary twisting motion.

If you need to change the direction of movement with a single engine you can just twist the prop blades I think.

Is there more information available on this AVIC project?

Any idea what type of helicopter this is and where it was spotted? Some claim this to be the Z-21 (?), but IMO it looks different, while others assume it to be "something new" and others say it is not even Chinese?" (Image via @Captain小潇 from Weibo)

Deino said:

Any idea what type of helicopter this is and where it was spotted? Some claim this to be the Z-21 (?), but IMO it looks different, while others assume it to be "something new" and others say it is not even Chinese?" (Image via @Captain小潇 from Weibo)

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Location is Dingxin !

I found this from Twitter. It looks like a subscale wind tunnel model. I think I saw this model somewhere in the forum here as a CGI.

FYI, the is dedicated to high-speed helicopters, with some 20 articles exploring various areas of high-speed helicopter design.

Some illustrations from the various papers:

1) The two images below are of a wind tunnel model and a functional unmanned compound helicopter that were used specifically to develop and verify mathematical models and flight control laws. As such, these are not actual designs being developed for eventual service.


2) Test benches and wind tunnel models used to study components of tiltrotors and compound helicopters with regard to aerodynamic and acoustic performance.