The Rise of Radical New Rotorcraft

The building doesn't look like much—one of several nondescript hangars alongside an airstrip on the edge of the Everglades, baking in the eternal monotony of the central Florida sun.

This is the home of Sikorsky Aircraft's Area 31, where the company works on its most advanced rotorcraft projects. Like Area 51, the famously clandestine Air Force base in the Nevada desert, this airfield is home to experimental aircraft being built and tested. The mystery projects here need to be kept not only from other nations but from other aviation companies too. Millions, possibly billions, of dollars are at stake. For that reason, Sikorsky is hesitant to let journalists onto the grounds and does so only if the tour is restricted and the photography limite

I live in the town next to Stratford home of Sikorsky Aircraft and employs over 10,000 and supplies many jobs for sub contractors.
The new S-97 is going to be a awesome helicopter wit it's radical rotor technology.

This is the S-97 Raider. When it takes to the air in 2015, it will be the first production-ready prototype for a new kind of rotorcraft, the compound-coaxial helicopter. The Raider has two rotors that turn in opposite directions on a central mast, enabling it to fly up to 275 mph. That's more than 100 mph faster than a conventional helicopter, giving it twice the range.

www.popularmechanics.com...

Here is Sikorsky's home site and explains many of the helicopters they build.

www.sikorsky.com...

I use to have an RC coax helicopter. Much easier to fly but it suffered terribly from gusts of wind or a hard landing because the two rotors could touch each other, and when that happened they smashed themselves to pieces.
I hope they've sorted that problem out

Hi, chopper fans.

Also, the coaxial main rotor choppers are flying since a good while! :

www.aviastar.org...
www.bearcraft-online.com...
wn.com...

Blue skies.