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n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m | A u g u s t 2 0 2 1 | n e w h a v e n B I Z 9 Range Assault Aircra (FLRAA). Our prod- uct is called Defiant X. We are partnered with Boeing on that program. e other future vertical-li program is the Future Attack and Reconnaissance Aircra (FARA). is is a smaller aircra that is going to be used to scout and do re- connaissance on the battlefield. (Sikorsky's FARA prototype is Raider X.) On that one, Sikorsky is bidding alone. We are compet- ing against Bell (a helicopter manufacturer based in Texas). e first one, we are going to submit the proposal in September, and we expect a de- cision from the Army next year. e second one, we won't be writing the proposal until next year, and we won't be getting a decision until early 2023. Both of those programs are going to redefine Army aviation. ey are not only important for the Army and their future, but they are important for us and our busi- ness future, to win those competitions. How is Sikorsky moving toward being more digital? e transformation we have been on to a fully digital company has been a priority for Lockheed Martin for the last five to 10 years. We need to continue that pro- cess and hopefully take it to the next level with the future verti- cal-li programs. On the CH-53K program, that is really our first all-digital design. If you walk our manufacturing floor, you would see the operators don't hold up blueprints anymore. ey are all working with tablets and computers, and wearing augmented reality glasses to look at drawings and see how to assemble things. It is a much more modern fac- tory than if you came in five or 10 years ago. It is really about efficien- cy, speed, cost savings for our customers and getting a higher-quality product. What are your plans for growth? We are on a growth trajectory right now and that is mainly because of the CH-53K program for the U.S. Marine Corps. It is a massive program. We are expected to produce 200 aircra. ese are in the $90 million to $100 million range per aircra. We were also selected by the government of Israel to provide the CH-53K for them as well. We see more growth there. ere are other countries internationally that we are pursuing for the CH-53K. Long term, the future vertical-li pro- grams for the Army are really the future. Assuming that we win those, they will represent significant growth for Sikorsky. What does the next generation of helicopters look like? Our offering for the future vertical-li competition is really a revolutionary heli- copter. It is a technology we call X2. e traditional helicopter has the big main rotor blade and the tail rotor in back. is helicopter has two main rotor blades rotating in opposite directions. e rotor in the back is actually a pusher propeller. X2 was really designed to have a helicopter go twice the speed of a traditional helicopter. e X2 aircra have gone in excess of 250 knots (288 miles per hour), compared to a typical helicopter, which goes 125 to 150 knots. One of the things the Army wanted is to go much faster and be able to get into the fight a lot quicker. e combination of the dual main rotors and the propeller give you maneuverability to get in and out of the battlefield quickly, to be able to move around the enemy and avoid threats on the battlefield. What are the biggest challenges the company faces? We are very reliant on defense budgets. When you look at the priorities of this administration, they are balanced among defense and non-defense priorities. So the question is: Will that take anything away from our contracts? So far, we are very stable and we haven't seen any of that. In the future vertical-li program, we have stiff competition there. Our competi- tors are going to be very aggressive. ere are two other helicopter manufac- turers in the U.S. (Boeing and Bell). ere are others internationally that are very prominent and compete with us on the worldwide stage as well. What have been your biggest contracts recently? e CH-53K. We were just awarded the next lot, for nine additional aircra. at is the most recent large contract. We also build a variant of the Black Hawk called the Seahawk, for Naval applications. We won a contract with Greece this year for a number of those aircra, as well as Korea, so two additional customers for that product. What makes the CH-53K in such high demand? e CH-53K is a descendant of the legacy helicopter, the CH-53E. It has been a work- horse for the Marine Corps. From the outside, they look the same, but they are completely different aircra. e K can li much more weight than the E variant. So when you talk about troops and equipment, it has significantly higher liing capacity. It has much more range. It is a lot safer and easier to fly for the pilots. When they get into situations where they have a degraded visual environment — maybe they are flying in sand or heavy rain — the fly-by-wire controls and all the sensors on the aircra allow the pilot to put it in autopilot. e sensors can see through the weather and the dust. Additionally, there are a lot of sensors on the aircra that monitor its health and status. Are your customers' needs changing? ey definitely are in a couple of ways. Our customers need to move a lot faster. Traditionally development programs could take 10 to 15 years. We are going to develop these programs for our future vertical li in about half the time. So we are building a prototype for one of the future vertical-li programs in about four years, which is about half the time of a traditional helicopter build. On the 21st-century warfighting battle- field, our military needs to be much more connected. ey need to be able to connect the Army to the Navy to the Air Force, all assets on the battlefield. We have been working to ensure these are the most con- nected platforms and networks. Cybersecurity is one of the requirements as we develop these aircra and ensure all the soware, networks and communication links are protected. Does Sikorsky have other new products or technologies in the pipeline? e Army has said that Black Hawk will be in the fleet for decades to come, even as they bring on the future vertical-li plat- form. So we have a road map for modern- ization of the Black Hawk that will take us well into the future and keep that platform relevant well into the 21st-century warfight- ing environment. We have an innovations group that is always working on the next technologies and products. We have done a lot of work on autonomy, or allowing the computer to fly the helicop- ter so pilots can focus on the mission. Also, more sensors to monitor the health of every system on the aircra. In the past, we gave a periodic main- tenance schedule. If we can monitor the condition of a part, we can tell them when they really need to replace it. at saves a lot of dollars. As I look to the future of the next 10 to 15 years, there are a number of technologies we will be investing in. First and foremost is electric propulsion. You have seen the drive for electric cars. e same thing is happening in aviation. I am confident you are going to see all electric aircra. ink about how clean that is — no emissions, no use of carbon gases. at is something we see in the future and we are investing in that now. Are there any safety-related changes being made? Automation technology. It is not just about the ability to take pilots out of the cockpit. It is about the ability to take control of the aircra out of the pilot's hands, when the conditions are such that the pilot is impaired. It could be a medical reason, or weath- er or environmental conditions. We have gotten to the point now where the sensors and the control soware that drive the helicopter know better in those situations than a human and can take control and fly the aircra. One of the big causes of helicopter accidents is when the pilot can't see where they are going and they fly into the ground, a mountain or a tree. e autonomy technology really helps prevent that. We believe that kind of technology is going to save a lot of lives. Any changes on the horizon regarding your Stratford presence? No. Our Stratford presence and head- quarters are solid. We have a great relation- ship with the community and with the state at large. We plan to keep that as our home for the long-term future. What do you think about Connecticut as a place to do business? Connecticut has been a great place for Sikorsky to do business for the many de- cades we have been here. We have had great support from the local communities and the state, to help us with everything from secur- ing the workforce, training that workforce, and incentives to do business here. We have a very strong supply base in Connecticut. We have over 300 sup- pliers in the state, who also employ thousands of people. It is a great atmosphere, and that's why we are still here. Did the pandemic have any impact on Sikorsky? We had people out with COVID over the course of the last year-and- a-half. But at the end of the day we were able to meet all of our customer deliveries. Today we are up to about 50 percent (of employees) in the facilities, and we are gradually increasing that. We have our employees categorized, from fully on-site to fully telecommuting. We will probably end up with 20 to 30 percent of the workforce who will telecommute from all the time to at least some of the time. We now understand we can have more of a hybrid work environment. Tell me about Sikorsky's economic impact on the region. We have nearly a billion dollars in payroll every year in Connecticut, and that is a billion dollars in the pocketbooks of our employees. We have put over $600 million to $700 million into the supply base on an annual basis. at trickles down. It is a pretty signif- icant economic impact. We have 8,000 employees here in Con- necticut. Last year alone, we hired 1,000 new employees. at was to compensate for some attrition, but also growth. is year, we will probably hire about half that many, but we are still hiring and growing. Is Sikorsky having trouble finding manufacturing workers to fill vacancies? We are in the middle of hiring manu- facturing workers, we just brought on 100 new employees this year. We are looking for more. We are finding them. We have a career pathways program that we set up with the local Teamsters union to bring in and train students coming out of high school. Hopefully they will stay with us and take on jobs. at has been a good avenue for us to hire new employees for the manufacturing area. On the professional and engineering side, we have had good results with local univer- sities here as well as countrywide. We are very big in STEM. We try to get out to the middle schools and high schools to talk about what a career in science, tech- nology, engineering and math looks like. It encourages those folks to start working in those fields and intern with us. n The Defiant X helicopter is designed to fly twice as far and fast as the Black Hawk. PHOTO | COURTESY SIKORSKY

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