While driverless vehicles become more and more normalized on our terrestrial roads, aircraft that can take off and land without human intervention are still being developed. One of the recent developments was a thirty-minute flight conducted by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), in which a completely empty helicopter took flight and landed successfully in the first mission of its kind.

While automatic pilots have existed for decades, they are not replacements for humans. Human intervention is still required for takeoff and landing (although more modern systems, like Autoland, may allow autopilots to handle the latter), and even during cruising, pilots must constantly monitor the flight of the aircraft. 

But aircraft automation has been advancing in sophistication for fifty years, and armed with this progress, DARPA and Lockheed Martin started working on retrofitting a UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter to take to the skies with no human intervention, or even supervision.

The program that allowed the helicopter to make this achievement is named ALIAS (Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System), which was developed by a Lockheed Martin company named Sikorsky. Not only does it allow the helicopter to fly through open air, it also simulates buildings for the program to navigate around. Lockheed Martin described the helicopter as an “optionally piloted vehicle”. 

On February 5, 2022, this technology was tested at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. After initiating a switch in the cockpit, the human pilots exited the aircraft. From there, the helicopter took off and flew for thirty minutes, navigating through simulated obstacles, before successfully landing. Another successful flight took place on February 7.

Stuart Young, a program manager at DARPA, stated that the benefits included giving the army more flexibility, which included “the ability to operate aircraft at all times of the day or night, with and without pilots, and in a variety of difficult conditions, such as contested, congested, and degraded visual environments.” The technology may also save lives in emergencies by preventing dangerous situations.

The military most likely intends to use this technology in conjunction with Future Vertical Lift, its program which aims to develop new helicopters to replace older models, including the UH-60 Black Hawk itself. 

Works Cited

1. “Autopilot.” SKYbrary, https://skybrary.aero/articles/autopilot. Accessed 13 February 2022.

2. Daigle, Lisa. “DARPA program flies first-ever uninhabited Black Hawk helicopter trial.” Military Embedded Systems, 8 February 2022, https://militaryembedded.com/unmanned/sensors/darpa-program-flies-first-ever-uninhabited-black-hawk-helicopter-trial. Accessed 13 February 2022.

3. DARPA. “ALIAS equipped Black Hawk helicopter completes first uninhabited flight.” Darpa, 8 February 2022, https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2022-02-08. Accessed 13 February 2022.

4. Lockheed Martin. “Revolutionizing Army Aviation.” Lockheed Martin, https://www.lockheedmartin.com/fvl/?gclid=CjwKCAiA9aKQBhBREiwAyGP5lfHLNAOV68aLpN4EIUMpYjf0ARnpx1PMUSfH7f9iSsP3GYgl4G6jIRoCFMQQAvD_BwE. Accessed 13 February 2022.

5. Lockheed Martin. “Sikorsky and DARPA Fly OPV Black Hawk With Supervised Autonomy.” Lockheed Martin, 8 February 2022, https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/news/features/2022/safe-reliable-and-uninhabited-first-autonomous-black-hawk-flight.html. Accessed 13 February 2022.

6. Lockheed Martin. “Sikorsky MATRIX™ Technology.” Lockheed Martin, https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/sikorsky-matrix-technology.html. Accessed 13 February 2022.

7. Massie, Graeme. “Fully autonomous Black Hawk helicopter has flown for the first time.” The Independent, 11 February 2022, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/autonomous-black-hawk-helicopter-flies-b2012713.html. Accessed 13 February 2022.

8. Verger, Rob. “First flight: A Black Hawk helicopter, with no pilots.” Popular Science, 8 February 2022, https://www.popsci.com/aviation/black-hawk-helicopter-first-autonomous-flight/. Accessed 13 February 2022.