US Army’s Black Hawks to fly without pilots with next-gen robotic brain

A ‘robotic brain’ is being introduced to an experimental US Army UH-60M helicopter with fly-by-wire controls.

This advancement will allow the helicopter to function autonomously, regardless of whether humans are on board.

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, has received a $6 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to install the company’s ALIAS/MATRIX flight autonomy system onto the US Army’s experimental fly-by-wire Black Hawk helicopter.

Designated MX, the upgraded aircraft will enable the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) to test and evaluate a wide range of autonomy capabilities, from single pilot operation to fully uninhabited flight.

Robotic brain

“Autonomy-enabled aircraft will reduce pilot workload, dramatically improve flight safety, and give battle commanders the flexibility to perform complex missions in contested and congested battlespace, day or night in all weather conditions,” said Rich Benton, Sikorsky vice president and general manager.

“Soldiers will rely on Black Hawk helicopters into the 2070s, and modernizing the aircraft today will pay dividends for decades across Army Aviation’s current and future aircraft.”

The MATRIX autonomy system forms the core of DARPA’s ALIAS (Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System) program.

As part of ALIAS in 2020, Sikorsky provided the hardware and engineering support to add fly-by-wire flight controls to the MX aircraft .

When combined with the MATRIX autonomy system, the MX aircraft will be a near-exact copy of Sikorsky’s UH-60A fly-by-wire Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter, the company’s flying lab that has tested MATRIX autonomy over hundreds of flight hours.

Black Hawk to become autonomous in 2025

Sikorsky will integrate the MATRIX system into the MX helicopter in 2025.

The aircraft will enable DEVCOM to explore and mature a scalable autonomy system’s practical applications and potential operational concepts.

Evaluation will include assessing different sensor suites to perceive and avoid threats, obstacles, and terrain and developing standards and system specifications interfaced with the MATRIX system and a fly-by-wire flight control system.

In July 2024, Sikorsky and DARPA demonstrated to US military service personnel and senior Department of Defense officials how the Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter can easily be flown and controlled by an operator in the cabin or on the ground by entering high-level mission goals via a tablet.

These recent demonstrations built on autonomous flights at Project Convergence 2022, when Sikorsky and DARPA successfully demonstrated to the US Army how the Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter, operating without humans on board, can safely and reliably perform internal and external cargo resupply missions.

Autonomous capabilities such as MATRIX technology are a key part of Lockheed Martin’s 21st Century Security vision, which includes modernizing the Black Hawk helicopter to stay ahead of new and emerging threats.

In addition to autonomy, the US Army’s Black Hawk helicopters could get fitted with the planned next-generation engines as early as 2025.

This deal will follow a series of tests of the new GE Aerospace T901 engines this year.

Designed under the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP), this engine promises better performance, range, and longevity than existing ones. However, the T901 has experienced many delays due to technical and supply chain issues.