Lockheed Martin Sikorsky's Optionally Piloted (OPV) Black Hawk helicopter has for the first time, been operated by a US soldier—not a trained aviator—to plan and execute real-world missions in military exercises.
“With lives on the line, Sikorsky’s MATRIX flight autonomy system can transform how military operators perform their missions,” Vice President and General Manager of Sikorsky, Rich Benton, said.
The OPV helicopter is powered by Matrix technology. In partnership with the US Joint Personnel Recovery Agency and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Sikorsky has fielded the OPV Black Hawk aircraft at Northern Strike 25-2 in August.
“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," Benton stated.
According to Sikorsky, 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.
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.
According to Sikorsky, firsts that have occurred during the exercises include:
- Exercise 1: Parachute Drops and Logistics Recovery
- 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
- OPV Black Hawk has completed its first-ever autonomous hookup of an external load while airborne. Using its hover stability capabilities, the aircraft has held position while soldiers quickly and efficiently attached a 2,900-pound water tank without pilot intervention.
- Exercise 3: HIMARS External Sling Load and MEDEVAC Recovery
- OPV Black Hawk has 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.