DARPA to Test Autonomous Flight on Black Hawk

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded Sikorsky a $6 million contract to integrate an autonomous flight system onto the UH-60M Black Hawk to experiment with AI-enabled operations. Sikorsky will add its MATRIX autonomy system onto the helicopter in 2025, allowing the Army’s DEVCOM to test and mature autonomous flight capabilities ranging from solo-pilot ops to fully uncrewed flight. Expectations are that adding autonomy will reduce pilot workload, dramatically improve flight safety, and provide the flexibility to perform complex missions in contested and congested battlespace, day or night, no matter the weather.

The Army has been modernizing its aviation fleet under its future vertical lift portfolio, and they are integrating autonomy and AI where possible. That includes introducing new drones, including the Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (FTUAS), smaller “launched effects,” and ways manned platforms can carry autonomous flight capabilities.

Sikorsky’s MATRIX autonomy is the foundation of work on DARPA’s Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program, developing a customizable, removable system that introduces AI-enabled flight into existing aircraft while reducing cognitive loads on pilots.

The upgraded MX Black Hawk will be almost exactly like Sikorsky’s UH-60A fly-by-wire Black Hawk. DEVCOM will be able to experiment with and mature applications of autonomous flight and develop concepts of operations around scalable autonomy, according to the company.