To expedite flight times for emergency responders and speed enthusiasts, Airbus has developed a new aircraft that is half helicopter and half aeroplane.
Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno confirmed the development to Reuters on Thursday.
A unique demonstration model, the 200 million euro ($217 million) Racer combines two forward-facing propellers with traditional overhead rotors to increase speed and stability.
It comes after Airbus earlier this week released new flying photos and video demonstrating how it can land without a big runway and take off like a helicopter. In April, the Racer had its maiden flight.
According to Laurence Petiard, head of external relations at Airbus Helicopters, a ceremony honouring the company’s 40 partners from 13 different European nations in the Clean Sky 2 project was held today.
Newsng understands that this could resemble some of the projected vertically taking off and landing flying cars that are out there, but Airbus has this thing off the ground already and isn’t planning on adding wheels as an afterthought.
The Racer features the typical helicopter top rotor in addition to forward-facing rotors and wings akin to those of an aircraft.
“There are missions where the quickest possible access to the zone is vital. We often talk about the ‘golden hour’,” Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even told Reuters
A unique demonstration model, the 200 million euro ($217 million) Racer combines two forward-facing propellers with traditional overhead rotors to increase speed and stability. The goal of this technology is to speed up vital activities like search and rescue efforts as per the report.
Although these designs are mostly intended for civilian use, they could also lead to military developments as NATO conducts a thorough analysis of future helicraft requirements.
According to Airbus, the Racer will travel at a speed of 220 knots, or 400 km/h, as opposed to the typical helicopter speed of 140 knots. Bell claims that the Pentagon recently selected its V-280 Valour tilt-rotor design, which will enable it to travel at 280 knots.
We earlier reported that as demand for electric vehicles declines, billionaire Elon Musk has revealed intentions to lay off over 10% (or over 14,000 employees) of Tesla’s global staff.
Elon Musk made “the difficult decision” public in a note that was originally made public by the website Elektrek. 140,473 individuals work at Tesla, according to its annual report.