Airbus Helicopters’ Racer demonstrator speeds through nap-of-the-earth testing

Recent activity also involved military pilots completing low-level assessment.
Airbus Helicopters’ high-speed Racer demonstrator has conducted a fresh series of flights to showcase its performance in challenging operational conditions.

Completed early this month during tactical-style sorties performed from the Cazaux test centre in southern France, the nap-of-the-earth trials also involved military pilots.

“A preliminary flight that was performed with a conventional rotorcraft had an average speed of 60kt [111km/h],” says chief engineer Jerome Geneix. “We did it with the Racer and the average speed of the flight was 150kt – and in some sections you had the capacity to accelerate to 200kt.

The airframer has yet to release images from the test activity.

“We matched the speed target objective,” he confirms, while adding that the military pilots provided positive feedback about the aircraft’s responsiveness and controllability. “Racer’s acceleration is twice that of a conventional rotorcraft,” he notes.

Airbus Helicopters has so far accumulated around 70 flight hours with its Racer, which features lateral pusher-configured rotors mounted on a V-shaped box-wing in addition to its main rotor. Previous testing has seen the aircraft achieve 240kt in level flight.

“The big outcome from all this flight-test evaluation [so far] is that speed is one thing, but Racer is much more,” Geneix says. “It is an enhanced helicopter – we bring additional capacity to conventional rotorcraft, and this is beneficial for the mission.”

The company’s next activity will involve testing a new “eco-mode” capability. That will see it switch off one of the aircraft’s two Safran Helicopter Engines Aneto-1X powerplants in flight to reduce fuel consumption, while maintaining a cruise speed of 180kt. The company expects to eventually demonstrate the ability to restart a shut-down engine to full power within only 7s.

Installation work to add the eco-mode technology will commence on 12 October at Airbus Helicopters’ Marignane site near Marseille.
Geneix says ground testing will be followed by flight activity before the end of this year.

The company intends to perform additional future testing with the platform, he says, adding: “We have hundreds of [flight] hours still remaining – it’s a question of what to do with it.”

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