Sikorsky Teams Up with DARPA to Revolutionize Black Hawk Helicopters with Cutting-Edge Autonomy

Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, has secured a $6 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to equip the firm’s ALIAS/MATRIX^™ flight automation system on the U.S. Army’s experimental fly-by-wire UH-60M Black Hawk^® helicopter. Labeled MX, the enhanced aircraft will allow the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) to assess and analyze a broad spectrum of autonomous functionalities, ranging from single pilot use to fully unmanned operation.

“Autonomy-enabled aircraft will alleviate pilot workload, significantly enhance flight safety, and provide combat commanders with the adaptability to execute intricate missions in contested and crowded battlefields, day or night and under any weather conditions,” stated Rich Benton, Sikorsky’s vice president and general manager. “Servicemen will depend on Black Hawk helicopters through the 2070s, and modernizing these aircraft today will yield benefits for decades within Army Aviation’s current and future fleets.”

The MATRIX automation system is central to DARPA’s ALIAS (Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System) initiative. In alignment with ALIAS in 2020, Sikorsky delivered the hardware and engineering assistance needed to incorporate fly-by-wire controls into the MX aircraft. When paired with the MATRIX automation system, the MX aircraft will closely resemble Sikorsky’s UH-60A fly-by-wire Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter, the firm’s flight testing laboratory that has evaluated MATRIX automation over numerous flight hours.

Sikorsky will incorporate the MATRIX system into the MX helicopter in 2025. This aircraft will empower DEVCOM to investigate and develop the feasible applications and prospective operational concepts of a scalable autonomy framework. The evaluation will encompass assessing various sensor packages to detect and evade threats, barriers, and landscapes, and formulating standards and specifications for systems interfacing with the MATRIX system and a fly-by-wire flight control mechanism.

In July 2024, Sikorsky and DARPA showcased to U.S. military personnel and high-ranking Department of Defense officials how the Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter can be effortlessly flown and managed by an operator in the cockpit or remotely from the ground by entering high-level mission objectives through a tablet.

These recent exhibitions built upon autonomous flights at Project Convergence 2022, where Sikorsky and DARPA convincingly demonstrated to the U.S. Army how the Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter, functioning without human presence, can securely and dependably carry out both internal and external cargo resupply operations.

Autonomous capabilities like MATRIX technology are integral to Lockheed Martin’s 21st Century Security^® strategy, which aims to modernize the Black Hawk helicopter to stay ahead of evolving threats.