UH-60A Black Hawk Helicopter Takes Flight Without Human Pilots

For the first time, a Black Hawk helicopter has flown without a single human on board. The computer-piloted test was conducted as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program known as ALIAS.

The test flight took place at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with a UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter controlled by a Sikorsky-made MATRIX autonomy system, the technology of which was produced by Lockheed Martin. It allowed for a switch to be installed on board the helicopter’s cockpit to indicate if two, one, or no pilots are operating it.

The test flight on February 5, 2022, marked the first time the helicopter was sent into the air with the no pilots option switched on. This means the only thing handling the Black Hawk’s controls was the computer system.

The 30-minute test flight was conducted to test the technology’s ability to control the chopper in all sorts of environments. For the test, it was programmed to act as if it were dodging skyscrapers in Manhattan. Afterward, two pilots approached, switched the controls back to pilot-operated mode, and taxied it down the runway.

It flew at speeds between 115 and 125 miles per hour and managed sharp turns and straightaways between skyscrapers. Another brief autonomous flight occurred with the same Black Hawk helicopter on February 7, 2022.

DARPA’s program has been ongoing for approximately six years. ALIAS, which stands for Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System, has “leveraged the considerable advances in aircraft automation systems over the past 50 years, as well as similar advances in remotely piloted and optionally piloted vehicles.”

According to Stuart Young, program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, the tests have three primary goals: to prevent aircraft from doing something dangerous, to provide in-flight assistance, and to reduce costs, either in reduced maintenance or personnel-training expenses.

“With ALIAS, the Army will have much more operational flexibility,” he said in a press release. “This includes the ability to operate the aircraft at all times of the day or night, with or without pilots, and in a variety of difficult conditions, such as contested, congested, and degraded visual environments.”

Over the course of the next month, the program intends to conduct the first flight of a fully-autonomous M-model Black Hawk at Virginia’s Fort Eustis.