Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky gets funding by DARPA to turn Black Hawk into drone

American aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, will convert a United States Army UH-60M Black Hawk into a drone.

The company 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 helicopter, essentially converting it into a drone.

According to Sikorsky, the upgraded aircraft, which is designated MX, 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.

We’re installing our ALIAS/MATRIX flight autonomy system onto the @USArmy’s experimental fly-by-wire Black Hawk, allowing them to test a wide range of autonomy capabilities, from single pilot operation to fully uninhabited flight. #AUSA2024— Sikorsky (@Sikorsky) October 14, 2024“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,” Rich Benton, Sikorsky Vice President and General Manager said in a statement. 

“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,” Benton added.

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.Sikorsky is set to integrate the MATRIX system into the MX helicopter by 2025. The aircraft will enable DEVCOM to explore the practical applications and potential concept of operations of a scalable autonomy 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.

The project is part of Lockheed Martin’s 21st century security vision, which includes modernizing the Black Hawk helicopter to stay ahead of new and emerging threats.

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