Airbus Helicopters flies DisruptiveLab technology demonstrator | News
Airbus Helicopters has performed the first flight of its new DisruptiveLab technology demonstrator that will test a host of new technologies designed to cut carbon emissions by up to 50%.
Announced at the airframer’s Summit 2022 event last December, Airbus Helicopters chief executive Bruno Even had promised a first-flight milestone by year-end.
Although ground testing began late in the year, the all-new single-engined demonstrator (F-WADL) did not make its maiden sortie until 13 January.
No details of the first flight’s duration were immediately available, although video footage released by Airbus Helicopters shows the aircraft performing a series of low-level hovering manouevres at its Marginane facility in the south of France.
Technologies under evaluation include a redesigned rotor head, an aerodynamically improved composite and aluminium fuselage, a slimline tail boom designed around a maintenance-free fully enclosed transmission, and a smaller and lighter Fenestron shrouded tail rotor.
Additionally, the DisruptiveLab is fitted with a parallel hybrid-electric drive system which is capable of recharging the batteries during in flight. Airbus Helicopters has yet to disclose which company has supplied the hybrid drivetrain.
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