Concept art of a next generation military rotorcraft concept (Airbus)

BELFAST — NATO has handed out three Next Generation Rotorcraft Capability (NGRC) contracts to Airbus, Leonardo and Lockheed Martin, opening the way for the manufacturers to study “potential integrated platform concepts,” as the alliance bids to deliver a new class of medium lift military helicopters between 2035 and 2040.

All three contractors are expected to “identify and exploit cutting-edge technologies to meet the NGRC operational and supportability capabilities, as well as seeking innovation in digital design and development processes and advanced materials and manufacturing,” NATO said in a statement.

The awarding of the new contracts formally launches NGRC’s Concept Study 5 line of effort, dedicated to medium lift rotary capabilities. Despite NATO not sharing the exact value of the contracts, prior tender documents indicated that each one is valued at €5.7 million ($6.2 million).

Acknowledging receipt of the contract award, Airbus said that it had been selected by NATO to “lead a concept study … under which the participants combine efforts to work on design, development and delivery of a medium multi-role helicopter.”

The European manufacturer also shared that it will partner with RTX’s Collins Aerospace, Raytheon and MBDA for the project, which will last for 13 months and involve two “integrated concepts” of future military rotorcraft.

France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the UK and the US are all part of the Airbus-led study through different partner companies. Each partner is expected to contribute to helicopter design, systems integration, connectivity, weapons and effectors, avionics, and sensors.

Drilling down on some of the technical aspects of the concept work, Airbus also noted that a “modular and multi-mission platform,” capable of meeting NATO interoperability standards will be targeted. Additionally, a “high degree” of connectivity and “resilient” communication systems will be prioritized.

Bruno Evan, CEO of Airbus Helicopters stated, “we are convinced that we have the right cost effective, high performance, and operationally efficient solutions at Airbus Helicopters for the next generation of military rotorcraft,” without disclosing which platform the manufacturer will base concept work on.

The company has often said that it could offer a derivative of the Rapid and Cost-Efficient Rotorcraft (RACER) demonstrator for NGRC, currently in development as a civil aerospace aircraft aligned to the European Research Clean Sky 2 project.

According to Airbus company literature, RACER has been “optimised” to fly at a cruise speed of more than 400 km/h (248.5 mph), and “aims to achieve the best trade-off between speed, cost-efficiency, and mission performance.”

Upon receiving the concept contract, Andy Adams, vice president of Future Vertical Lift at Sikorsky, owned by Lockheed Martin, said in a statement that the company “is ready to design a rotorcraft prototype for NATO’s NGRC concept study to support defense and deterrence for an ever-changing global environment.”

Sikorsky will use a X2 coaxial compound, high-speed helicopter design as the basis of its approach to the concept work.

The X2 was the backbone of both the SB>1 Defiant and Raider X helicopters, once involved in the US Army’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) and Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) acquisitions. Defiant lost out to Bell’s V-280 tiltrotor for the long range program, while FARA was abruptly ended without a contract award in February.

Providing supply chain partner details related to the concept work, Lockheed Martin noted that a “European Industry Group” including: BAE Systems, ELT Group, ESG Elektroniksystem-und Logistik GmbH, GE Aerospace, Hellenic Aerospace Industry, Kongsberg, Liebherr-Aerospace Lindenberg GmbH, MAGroup, Malloy Aeronautics, SAFRAN, Rheinmetall and TERMA will offer support.

“This industry group will provide input as to how their world-class military products can support the X2 integrated platform concept approach to advance NATO’s capabilities and provide a next generation rotorcraft solution,” added Lockheed.