A U.S. Army National Guardsman with no previous aviation background learned to successfully maneuver Sikorsky’s optionally piloted Black Hawk helicopter in less than an hour, according to a company release.
In a training first, the Guardsman, using a handheld touchscreen tablet, controlled the Optionally Piloted Vehicle Black Hawk and planned its tasks during Exercise Northern Strike 25-2, a large, biannual multinational exercise sponsored by the National Guard Bureau that took place in Michigan this August. The exercise sees units practice a wide variety of offensive and defensive operations jointly in battle scenarios.
The Guardsman, whose name has not been released, used the OPV Black Hawk to transport a 2,900-pound water buffalo slingload entirely by remote control, according to the Thursday release.
Additional first-time demonstrations that took place during the exercise included delivering airborne troops to drop zones at different altitudes and a simulated medical evacuation, the release noted. The airborne drop exercise saw the helicopter perform a back-to-back action while controlled by the Guardsman operating the OPV from a Coast Guard vessel over 70 nautical miles away on Lake Huron. After ordering the helicopter to unload cargo, the soldier then used it to drop airborne troops.
The OPV Black Hawk also completed a first-ever performance of six hookups and dropoffs of HIMARS launch tubes, according to Sikorsky’s parent company Lockheed Martin.
“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,” said Rich Benton, vice president and general manager of Sikorsky, in a release.
Although it retains the ability to be operated by a pilot, the OPV Black Hawk can be programmed to perform tasks remotely and optionally controlled as it carries out its assigned duties.
Matrix technology, a system developed in a joint program by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Sikorsky, allows the aircraft to transition from piloted to uncrewed, according to DARPA.
Sikorsky also utilizes Matrix techonolgy in its completely autonomous take on the UH-60L Black Hawk, nicknamed the “U-HAWK,” which it unveiled during the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual convention this year in Washington.
Zita Ballinger Fletcher previously served as editor of Military History Quarterly and Vietnam magazines and as the historian of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. She holds an M.A. with distinction in military history.