Clean Sky 2 Spawns LifeRCraft

摘要

Airbus Helicopters will lead development of a large-scale compound rotorcraft demonstrator named LifeRCraft (Low Impact Fast and Efficient RotorCraft) that is part of Europe's Clean Sky 2 joint technology programme. The company builds on experience gained from its recently retired X~3 hybrid test bed (see X~3 Retired to Le Bourget Museum, August, p36), combining fixed wings for energy-efficient lift, open propellers for high-efficiency propulsion, and a main rotor that provides vertical landing and take-off capability. Airbus will start preliminary studies this year, with development and testing of components and subsystems planned from 2016 to 2018. Flight-testing could begin in early 2019.