Sikorsky Cypher

The Sikorsky Cypher and Cypher II are types of unmanned aerial vehicles developed by Sikorsky Aircraft. They are vertical takeoff and landing aircraft which use two opposing rotors enclosed in a circular shroud for propulsion.

Design and development

Cypher

Sikorsky began work on the Cypher in the late 1980s as a small unmanned aerial vehicle with coaxial rotors enclosed within a torus-shaped shroud. The circular duct improved handling safety and added lift. The first proof-of-concept aircraft measured Template:Convert in diameter and Template:Convert in height, weighed Template:Convert, and flew in the summer of 1988 powered by a four-stroke Template:Convert engine. For early trials it was mounted on a truck to conduct forward-flight tests.

A larger prototype followed, with a diameter of Template:Convert, weight of Template:Convert, and a Template:Convert Wankel engine. It achieved its first flight in April 1992 and its first free flight in 1993. Over the remainder of the decade the vehicle accumulated more than 550 demonstration flights for U.S. government agencies.

The Cypher could carry a sensor payload mounted above the fuselage or transport external loads of up to Template:Convert. The program provided the basis for the follow-on Cypher II, which was submitted to the United States Navy’s VT-UAV competition.

Cypher II

Sikorsky developed the Cypher II as an enlarged derivative of the original design. Two prototypes were constructed for evaluation by the United States Marine Corps, which designated the type Dragon Warrior. Externally similar in diameter to the first Cypher, the Cypher II incorporated a rear-mounted pusher propeller to improve forward thrust. It could also be fitted with detachable wings to extend endurance

References

Template:Reflist This article contains material that originally came from the web article Template:Usurped by Greg Goebel, which exists in the Public Domain.

External links

• Cypher