Sikorsky teased expectations of its plans for the advanced air mobility (AAM) sector last week at the Electric VTOL Symposium, which was part of the Vertical Flight Society’s 2022 Transformative Vertical Flight event in San Jose, California. The company’s strategy lead, Jonathan Hartman, spelled out what Sikorsky views as technological priorities for product development, without delivering a specific punchline regarding what the market can expect from it.
“We need to start talking about operationalizing these technologies,” Hartman said. “How do we take something that is rather abstract and turn it into real products and applications that customers can apply to their businesses?”
At the top of Sikorsky’s priorities for a new generation of technologies are electrified powertrains—battery-powered, fuel cell-powered, or hybrid, he said. “The ability to shift from mechanical drive trains to electrified ones has the potential to change the way our products are used in both current and emerging missions.”
Optionally-piloted technologies will also play a big part in improving the way customers use VTOL aircraft, Hartman added. Here, Sikorsky is leaning on its suite of Matrix technology, which combines software and hardware components to create an intelligence system that gives operators the ability to fly their large rotorcraft as autonomous or piloted.
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