US soldier—not a trained aviator—takes charge of autonomous Black Hawk helicopter at Northern Strike 25-2

US soldier takes charge of autonomous Black Hawk helicopter

For the first time, a US soldier—not a trained aviator—planned and executed real-world missions in military exercises with Lockheed Martin Sikorsky’s Optionally Piloted (OPV) Black Hawk helicopter, powered by MATRIX technology.

In partnership with the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Sikorsky fielded the OPV Black Hawk aircraft at Northern Strike 25-2 in August to demonstrate, in an operational environment, how an autonomous Black Hawk can expand mission reach and reduce risk to soldiers.

A US Army National Guard Sergeant First Class, trained in less than an hour became the first soldier to independently plan, command and execute OPV Black Hawk missions using the system’s handheld tablet. He directed the payload to a location 70 nautical miles away and commanded multiple precision airborne drops, marking the first time OPV Black Hawk operated fully under the control of an actual warfighter, instead of a trained test pilot or engineer.

Three types of cargo delivery

That wasn’t the only first of the exercise.

At Northern Strike, OPV Black Hawk demonstrated three types of cargo delivery, including internal carry, external sling load and precision parachute drop, as well as a MEDEVAC exercise.

Firsts in Flight

• • Exercise 1: Parachute Drops and Logistics Recovery
• o From a Coast Guard boat on Lake Huron, a soldier planned and executed a Class 1 resupply mission from 70 nautical miles away. After the cargo was unloaded, he used the tablet interface to direct the OPV Black Hawk in racetrack patterns over the lake while soldiers onboard completed two precision parachute drops at different altitudes. It was the first time the OPV Black Hawk performed precision logistics and airborne drops entirely under soldier control.
• • Exercise 2: Water Buffalo External Sling Load
• o OPV Black Hawk completed its first-ever autonomous hookup of an external load while airborne. Using its hover stability capabilities, the aircraft held position while soldiers quickly and efficiently attached a 2,900-pound water tank without pilot intervention. The demonstration showed that a MATRIX-equipped aircraft can perform complex aerial resupply missions in the field.
• • Exercise 3: HIMARS External Sling Load and MEDEVAC Recovery
• o OPV Black Hawk completed six autonomous hovering hookups to transport HIMARS launch tubes to an alternate landing zone. A soldier then used OPV Black Hawk to conduct a simulated personnel recovery, including a tail-to-tail patient transfer to a piloted Black Hawk at an unimproved landing site. This was the first time an untrained soldier commanded an autonomous MEDEVAC recovery from inside the OPV Black Hawk aircraft.

MATRIX technology

“With lives on the line, Sikorsky’s MATRIX flight autonomy system can transform how military operators perform their missions,” said Rich Benton, vice president and general manager of Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, said in a company news release. “An optionally piloted Black Hawk aircraft can reduce pilot workload in a challenging environment or complete a resupply mission without humans on board. In contested logistics situations, a Black Hawk operating as a large drone offers commanders greater resilience and flexibility to get resources to the point of need.”

Sikorsky MATRIX technology could one day enable utility helicopters to resupply forward forces on the future battlefield without any human pilots or crew on board.

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, and the DARPA successfully demonstrated this logistics/resupply capability to the US Army in October 2022 using an optionally piloted Black Hawk helicopter.

MATRIX technology forms the core of DARPA’s ALIAS project, an ongoing partnership between Sikorsky and DARPA. The autonomy project is designed to exponentially improve flight safety, reliability and efficiency of both rotary and fixed wing aircraft.

As the enabling technology for optionally piloted flight, MATRIX technology enables rotary and fixed-wing aircraft to be flown with or without humans on board, depending on the mission.

The technology combines software and hardware components to enable autonomous flight in obstacle-rich environments. This creates a safer flying experience overall for both military and commercial customers. Sikorsky’s work in autonomy technology spans several aircraft and focus areas.

Photo credit: Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company