Sorry to go off topic a bit but regarding new designs, does anyone else think the Sikorsky X2 sounds really badass when it is flying by?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJf4FGdvsuI
Yes...sounds pretty cool. The X2 is an example of synergy. Each technology used in the X2 had been used before (counter rotating blades, rigid blades, pusher prop/jet engines, fly-by-wire, and active anti-vibration system). When combined in a synergistic fasion you get an aircraft built with a lot of off the shelf components that easily set a speed record.
I got a chance to look at it and ask some people involved in the project some questions for about 30 minutes. It was between its first flight and the record setting flight (fairings were installed, gear retraction added, etc...). I really think they are WAY ahead of the competitors on this one. The advantage isn't in one technology, but how they took their knowledge of all of the technologies and strung them together on a shoestring budget to create this aircraft. This isn't pie in the sky technology. The X2 is all technology present already at the company. The engine was off of the Comanche (LITERALLY...it was a used engine tha came off of a Comanche). The landing gear came off of a common GA certified aircraft.
You may never see more than a desktop model of the Lockheed monstrosity in the original post, but you WILL see a production version of the X2 in the next 5 years.
