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USAF / Sikorsky HH-60W aerial refuel capability enabled through the use of Spectrum BALVACĀ® breakaway fuel valves
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Spectrum 3200 Series Altitude (Barometric) Pressure Switch
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Oct 31st, 2019
Spectrum Pumpkin Decorating Contest
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Spectrum Has Recently Manufactured, Assembled and Tested a 3" Fuel Line Breakaway Valve Assembly
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Spectrum Additive Manufacturing 3-D Printing Services
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Mackenzie's 11th Annual Beach Cleanup May 4, 2019
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VIDEO: Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant Coaxial Helicopter Lifts Off
Mar 20th, 2019
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HH-60W features a number of proven Spectrum products...
Feb 24th, 2019
Nora Slanski Assumes Quality Manager Role at Spectrum
Feb 4th, 2019
WATCH: Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant completes ground run
Jan 14th, 2019
23009 Fuel Drain Valve - Spectrum New Product Release
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We Salute our Veteran's Day Honorees
Aug 16th, 2018
Spectrum supports new V22 CODs (Carrier Onboard Delivery System) with new breakaway valve hardware.
Aug 8th, 2018
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Aug 1st, 2018
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Spectrum Supports Helicopter Fuel System Amendment
Mar 21st, 2018
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Spectrum 14900 Explained!
Oct 12th, 2017
Spectrum attains certification to AS9100 Rev. D and ISO 9001:2015 aerospace quality standards
Sep 21st, 2016
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JMR (Joint Multi-Role) Helo Demonstrator Program
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Spectrum in Full Support of FAA/NTSB Recent Directives
Apr 1st, 2016
Spectrum Participates in 2016 Bridgeport Youth Summit
Oct 23rd, 2015
Spectrum Supports Army at 5th Annual AED/AER Golf Scramble
May 12th, 2015
Spectrum recently awarded grant under the Manufacturing Innovation Voucher Program (MVP).
May 4th, 2015
Mckenzie's 7th Annual Beach Cleanup
Mar 27th, 2015
2015 Army Aviation Mission Solutions Summit & Spectrum
Mar 1st, 2015
S 97 Begins Blades Compressed...
Feb 5th, 2015
Raider Partners!
Dec 16th, 2014
Spectrum Does All of the Fuel Switches on this Drone
Nov 19th, 2014
Highly Complex Manifold For MH-53E Sea Dragon Helo
Aug 4th, 2014
Rosa DeLauro, Congresswoman (CT, D-3), Visits Spectrum to Support U.S./Local Manufacturing
Jul 10th, 2014
New Aircraft Component Wins At Spectrum
Jul 6th, 2014
Spectrum Awarded Bell-Boeing V-22 Contract
Jul 3rd, 2014
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May 22nd, 2014
New Hires At Spectrum
Mar 18th, 2014
Spectrum Answers the Burning Question: What's on Bell's New V-280 and 525 Rotary Wing Aircraft?
Mar 10th, 2014
Spectrum Secures BlackHawk Multi-Year 8 Award With Sikorsky Aircraft, As Premier Hydraulic Sub-assemby Supplier
Jan 14th, 2014
Sikorsky Selects Spectrum to Provide Complete Fuel System Kit For Next Generation S-97 RAIDER Helicopter
Dec 3rd, 2013
Brand New Army Overhaul Contract On The SAS - Five Year Contract Awarded to Spectrum for 2,000 Helo Army Fleet
Oct 11th, 2013
Spectrum selected a Sikorsky "Top 100 Supplier" of rotorcraft known worldwide for a wide variety of helicopters
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Mar 21st, 2019, West Palm Beach, Florida
VIDEO: Sikorsky-Boeing Defiant Coaxial Helicopter Lifts Off
This helo features new Spectrum pressure switches and breakaway valves.By Dan Parsons, Rotor & Wing | March 21, 2019The SB-1 Defiant coaxial compound helicopter prototype, built by a Sikorsky-Boeing team, broke contact with the ground on March 21 for the first time. Neither company released much information about the flight, although a video of the event at Sikorsky's West Palm Beach, Florida, flight test facility shows the aircraft in a low-level hover over the runway, in slow forward and backward flight and pivoting around its main rotor mast before making a gentle landing. The video shows off Defiant's coaxial, rigid-rotor design in detail. It has eight rotor blades, four each on two counter-rotating main rotors. An eight-bladed pusher-propulsor — basically a backwards propeller — is affixed to the aft fuselage to provide forward thrust. The blades' pitch is variable to maximize thrust and perform quietly at high speed. The Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 DEFIANT™ helicopter achieved first flight March 21, 2019. This flight marks a key milestone for the Sikorsky-Boeing team, and is the culmination of significant design, simulation and test activity to further demonstrate the capability of the X2 Technology. Photo courtesy Sikorsky and Boeing. Defiant is designed to fly at twice the speed and range of today’s conventional helicopters and offers advanced agility and maneuverability. It will help inform the next generation of military helicopters as part of the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift program. Its maiden flight comes as a better-late-than-never moment for the Defiant, which is participating in the U.S. Army's Joint Multirole Technology Demonstration(JMR-TD) program. Prototype aircraft were originally scheduled to fly by the end of 2017. The Defiant team then set a goal of flying in 2018, but scrapped plans near the end of the year. Its direct competitor, Bell's V-280 Valor advanced tiltrotor, celebrated a year of flight testing on December 18. Sikorsky has been flying Defiant's smaller cousin, the S-97 Raider, for nearly three years. That aircraft, which has the same basic configuration as the SB-1, is aimed at satisfying the Army's need for a Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) that would fill the void left by retiring the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior armed scout.
![]() The Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 DEFIANT™ helicopter achieved first flight March 21, 2019. With its two coaxial main rotors and rear-mounted pusher propulsor, DEFIANT is unlike production rotorcraft available today. Photo courtesy Sikorsky and Boeing. “Defiant is designed to fly at nearly twice the speed and has twice the range of conventional helicopters while retaining the very best, if not better low-speed and hover performance of conventional helicopters,” said Dan Spoor, vice president, Sikorsky Future Vertical Lift. “This design provides for exceptional performance in the objective area, where potential enemy activity places a premium on maneuverability, survivability and flexibility. We are thrilled with the results of today’s flight and look forward to an exciting flight test program.” Data from Defiant will help the Army develop requirements for new utility helicopters expected to enter service in the early 2030s. This flight marks a key milestone for the Sikorsky-Boeing team and is the culmination of significant design, simulation and test activity to further demonstrate the capability of the X2 Technology. The Army has cut the budget for JMR-TD to just $10 million in its 2020 funding request to Congress, down from more than $140 million in the current fiscal year. Army budget documents, which realign all Future Vertical Lift development efforts under a single funding stream, state that the service considers JMR-TD effectively complete as of Oct. 1, though Defiant has only just flown. With so much flight testing under Bell's belt, company officials have suggested they will curtail further test and demonstration without future funding from the Army. “The design and development of Defiant has revealed the capability advancement that is truly possible for Future Vertical Lift,” said David Koopersmith, vice president and general manager of Boeing Vertical Lift. “Clearly, the performance, speed, and agility of Defiant will be a game changer on the battlefield and we look forward to demonstrating for the U.S. Army the tremendous capabilities of this aircraft.” Defiant, like the V-280, is aimed at satisfying the Army's requirement for a Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft, or FLRAA, that would be about the size of a Black Hawk but with superior range and speed. Sikorsky maintains its X2 Technology is "scalable to a variety of military missions such as attack and assault, long-range transportation, infiltration and resupply." Defiant is the third X2 aircraft the company has built in less than 10 years. But Defiant's unique composite rotor blades production process proved a more difficult than anticipated nut to crack. During runs of the ground-based engineering test bed, engineers also found that some of the transmission gears were not sufficiently hardened to perform as expected. |