09 February 2022

Lockheed Martin flies unmanned Black Hawk for first time

by Gareth Jennings

Lockheed Martin has flown its Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) Sikorsky UH-60A/S-70 Black Hawk testbed helicopter for the first time, with a 30-minute test flight being conducted out of the US Army installation of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. (Lockheed Martin)

Lockheed Martin has flown its Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) Sikorsky UH-60A/S-70 Black Hawk testbed helicopter for the first time, the company announced on 8 February.

The 30-minute flight, which took place at the US Army installation of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, saw the OPV Black Hawk fly unmanned for the first time with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS).

“The Black Hawk was retrofitted with Sikorsky MATRIX autonomy technologies that form the core of ALIAS, and can change the way aviators and air crews execute their missions by providing assistance when flying with limited visibility or without communications,” DARPA said.

As noted by the agency, ALIAS aims to support execution of an entire mission from take-off to landing, including autonomously handling contingency events such as aircraft system failures.

As previously described by DARPA, ALIAS is designed to function as “a tailorable, drop-in, removable kit that would promote the addition of high levels of automation into existing aircraft, enabling operation with [a] reduced onboard crew”. NASA, the US Air Force, the US Army, and the US Navy have all expressed interest in ALIAS' potential capabilities and are supporting the programme.

The US Army is exploring potential use cases for technologies such as ALIAS, including those outlined in the service's Future Vertical Lift (FVL) programme. Within the next month, the ALIAS programme plans to conduct the first flight of a fly-by-wire UH-60M-model Black Hawk at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

Lockheed Martin has flown its Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) Sikorsky UH-60A/S-70 Black Hawk testb...

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