Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. achieved a major milestone on its X2 TECHNOLOGY™ Demonstrator program by successfully ground testing the aircraft with rotor blades installed and spinning for the first time. Sikorsky is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX). The initial "blades-on" ground test was conducted May 13 and went according to plan. The ground tests are continuing at Sikorsky's Schweizer Aircraft Corp. rapid-prototyping facility in Horseheads, N.Y., in preparation for the X2 TECHNOLOGY Demonstrator's first flight.

"The entire X2 TECHNOLOGY Demonstrator Program Team is extremely pleased that we continue to move our experimental program closer and closer to first flight," said James Kagdis, Program Manager, Advanced Programs. "We anticipate that reaching this particular milestone, as with those yet to come, will continue to pique the interest of our military, commercial and international customers regarding the potential that X2 TECHNOLOGY could have on their diverse missions around the globe."

The X2 TECHNOLOGY Demonstrator combines an integrated suite of technologies intended to advance the state-of-the-art, counter-rotating coaxial rotor helicopter. It is designed to demonstrate a helicopter can cruise comfortably at 250 knots, while retaining such desirable helicopter attributes as excellent low speed handling, efficient hovering and autorotation safety, and a seamless and simple transition to high speed. Among the innovative technologies the X2 TECHNOLOGY Demonstrator employs are:

Fly-by-wire flight controls

Counter-rotating rigid rotor blades

Hub drag reduction

Active vibration control

Integrated auxiliary propulsion system

Sikorsky Aircraft first announced the initiative to develop an integrated suite of technologies called X2 TECHNOLOGY in June 2005. The project is funded solely by Sikorsky.