Leonardo has completed the first ground run, with rotor testing, of the Next Generation Civil Tiltrotor Technology Demonstrator. The next phase of the program involves intensive testing in the coming months, with the aim of performing the first flight by the end of 2024 and then accumulating 200 flight hours to expand operational capabilities in helicopter and aircraft modes.

The NGCTR Technology Demonstrator was built by Leonardo with the aim to design, develop and demonstrate in flight innovative tiltrotor technologies, paving the way for future product developments.

Using the AW609 fuselage, the NGCTR-TD incorporates technologies adaptable to possible future programs and to industry development. These include an advanced wing architecture; an optimized V-Tail configuration that reduces trim drag; a non-tilting engine set-up, with a split gearbox, thus allowing a wider selection of engines and the avoidance of ground hot gas impingement and ground noise reduction; an advanced Fly-by-Wire Control that employs a modular, distributed, and scalable Flight Control System. Furthermore, an efficient nacelle architecture which minimizes drag and improve control and reduces flapping in VTOL mode by a differential control of nacelle tilting.

Leonardo’s NGCTR Technology Demonstrator began life in 2015 as part of the part of Clean Sky 2, an EU-funded Initiative for the development and validation of aeronautical technologies that will improve environmental impact and enhance the European aerospace supply chain. After a first design and development phase, characterized by a System Engineering Technical Review process, assembly was completed in June 2024.

As Massimo Biggi, Next Generation Fast Rotorcraft Programs Manager at Leonardo Helicopters, explained, “The NGCTR-TD, the first clean-sheet European tiltrotor concept design in years, has enabled Leonardo to develop and test the core technologies needed to flight test a next generation high speed aircraft with long range and vertical take-off and landing capabilities.”