Contracts were awarded in April 2019 to develop concept design candidates for FARA; five different teams were selected, including Sikorsky.
[2] Sikorsky presented the Raider X concept candidate at the annual meeting of the Association of the United States Army on October 14, 2019.
[5] On March 25, 2020, the Army selected the Raider X and Bell 360 Invictus concept design candidates to proceed to an eventual flight competition;[6] flying prototypes of each candidate design will be constructed, followed by test flights in 2022 leading up to a competitive flying demonstration no later than fall 2023.
[11] The Raider X, as required by FARA program specifications, is designed to use a single General Electric T901 engine.
[13] Based on S-97 and X2 performance, Raider X is expected to have a maximum speed exceeding 250 kn (460 km/h; 290 mph) with a service ceiling greater than 9,000 feet (2,700 m).