Wildland Firefighting with Rotor
The R550X is a Type 3 helicopter that has been carefully designed to fill multiple firefighting roles, from aerial ignition to initial attack to tactical resupply.
Overview
Wildland fire is a highly complex aviation environment, where reliability and safety are paramount. This mission grows in importance every year as the number of large fires climbs and resources are strained.
Rotor has collaborated with the firefighting community over the past several years to develop the R550X. It fills a gap above small UAS currently in use, bringing the full payload capability of a Type 3 rotorcraft without putting pilots at risk.
Benefits
Airspace integration
The R550X flies and communicates like a traditional crewed helicopter, allowing for seamless integration of into FTA / TFR environments.
Night and DVE operation
Multiple cameras, LIDAR, and thermal imaging allow high situational awareness at night and in degraded visual environments (DVE), like in thermal inversions or prolonged periods of smoke.
Multi-mission reliability
The R550X is a new tool in your pocket that can be used all year round – meeting the needs of fuel management in the off-season when it’s not fighting active wildfires. And because it’s based on a type-certified helicopter, reliability and availability are better than any drone alternative.
Live data anywhere
Connected aircraft can feed data back to ground and allow incident command and ground fire crews to access cloud-based information on laptops and phones in real-time for improved situational awareness.
Research
In 2021, Rotor joined an MIT industry collaboration to research technology needs in helicopter aerial work. We spent over 150 hours interviewing hundreds of helicopter fleet operators, helicopter pilots, and customers of helicopter services around the world. Our goal was to learn what the industry needed from engineers and companies developing new technology, and we published our findings in a public report.
In collaboration with
Rotor is collaborating with public and private organizations alike to define the future of remote flight.
Explore more missions
Agriculture
The R550X fits in seamlessly to existing helicopter spray operations, and provides immediate cost and productivity benefits.
LEARN MORE
Offshore
Deliver cargo to offshore assets 24 hours a day at lower cost than multi-engine turbine helicopters. Keep flight crews safe and preserve larger aircraft for personnel transport.
LEARN MOREThe R550X At Your Service
Remote Operation Only
Day and Night Approved
Remove Pilot Before Flight
