The Racer programme is one of Airbus Helicopters most interesting innovation projects and one that illustrates the company’s approach to innovation. Developed in the frame of the European Research Clean Sky 2 project, which involves 40 partners in 13 European countries, the high-speed demonstrator will be optimised for a cruise speed of more than 400 km/h (the average helicopter can reach a top speed of about 260 km/h) and aims at achieving the best trade-off between speed, cost-efficiency and mission performance.
Fuel savings will be generated thanks to the innovative Safran eco-mode hybrid-electrical system, which allows one of the two Aneto-1X engines to be shut down while in cruise flight. The particular architecture of the Racer formula will also contribute to lowering its operational acoustic footprint.
Designed and manufactured by Romania’s RoRCraft consortium, formed by INCAS (the National Institute for Aerospace Research “Elia Cafaroli”) and the aerospace company ROMAERO, the Racer lightweight airframe is a major achievement for the teams. This is the first time such an advanced hybrid helicopter structure, incorporating both metallic and composite primary structural elements, has been produced in Romania. The RoRCraft consortium will also be contributing to the demonstrator flight clearance by designing and conducting ground tests and stress analysis of the required fuselage parts.
Made of carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP), the 3.4 x 1.5 metre cover for the Racer’s side panels connects the tail boom to the aircraft’s cockpit. Such large format CFRP shells are traditionally made manually, but the Racer’s shell components have been manufactured in a highly automated process thanks to a new method developed by a research team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Foundry, Composite and Processing Technology IGCV in Germany.
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16 April 2021
