The S-92 is back: new-build S-92A+s are expected to enter service within the next three years. Image: Sikorsky
Sikorsky has revealed that production of the S-92 has restarted in response to demand for new examples of the heavy twin – with an initial production run of five aircraft, which it expects to scale up to an annual production total of 12 aircraft a year.
“We’ve had a significant amount of interest for VIP transport but it’s also true that there are no S-92s available for offshore,” said Leon Silva, Sikorsky’s Vice President Global Commercial and Military Systems speaking to a pre-Verticon briefing. “If you go back to 2020, there were a bunch of them in storage. Well, they are no longer in storage, they are all at work and working hard, so we have a proposal for an offshore A+ and we are getting interest. Offshore isn’t growing significantly, but it is growing, and in my view the S-92 will play a role in that.”
The new-build aircraft will be built to the A+ variant that the company has been offering to customers as kit for some time. While the production of subassemblies will be carried out at a number of Sikorsky plants, Stratford – where most of the dynamic elements such as gear boxes, blades and drive trains are built – will bear the brunt of the ramp-up to full production, and the final assembly line will be at the Oweigo facility in New York State.
Assembly of the final two S-92As is underway at West Palm Beach before production shifts to Oweigo and the A+ variant.
Silva said: “We’re been building aircraft most recently in West Palm Beach, but in small numbers – one, two, maybe three a year – but we’re going to scale up with the A+ and the team there have tons of experience with the Presidential VH-92s, so we are going to leverage that.”
At the heart of the A+ upgrade is the installation of the Phase IV Main Gear Box (MGB). The Phase IV MGB, which is it’s final 200 hours of testing is expected to have an operating life of 6,000+ hours an increased TBO compared with earlier models which, even with the FAA approved 1,200 hour one time life extension, timed out at 5,500 hours. In addition the GE CT7-8A6 engines with will be uprated to improve hot and high performance. That combined with airframe strengthening will bump the maximum gross weight to 27,700 lbs which translates to 1,200 lbs more fuel or payload compared with the S-92A. Sikorsky are also offering S-92A+ capability as a kit for retrofit to any S-92A with the option for upgraded engines.
Currently in production are the final two S-92As which are destined for head of state operations with two undisclosed customers allied to that the company has begun production of the first three S-92A+s. Sikorsky expects to deliver the first new production S-92A+ around 36 months after contract signing, although it has also said that in anticipation of the expected orders rate it will be building a number of “white tails” in an effort to cut the lead time for customers to perhaps as low as 24 months.
Images: Sikorsky
