DARPA flies unmanned Black Hawk helicopters on missions
The US is experimenting with a self-driving helicopter for immediate military use, but which could potentially have repercussions in the civil sector. According to a press release released Wednesday by Lockheed Martin, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) managed to autonomously fly an unmanned Black Hawk helicopter during two full missions.
The aircraft's standalone software was designed by Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky company. The helicopter was able to successfully, safely and reliably carry out internal and external cargo resupply missions and an unmanned rescue operation on board.
“Taken on October 12, 14 and 18 as part of the United States Army's Project Convergence 2022 (PC22) experiment, the flights show how existing and future piloted utility helicopters could one day fly on complex missions with reduced crew or in autonomous mode. This would offer Army commanders and airmen greater flexibility in the manner and timing of use of aircraft and pilots, especially in environments with limited visibility or militarily contested, ”the statement read.
DARPA has joined forces with Sikorsky to develop range technology, called MATRIX, which will be used on both rotary and fixed wing aircraft. “We believe MATRIX technology is ready to be transferred to the Army, which is seeking to modernize the helicopter fleet in service and acquire Future Vertical Lift aircraft,” said Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations.
In addition to increasing flight safety and reliability, MATRIX technology enables survival in high-paced, high-threat 21st century security environments where Black Hawk helicopters operate today and DEFIANT X and RAIDER X helicopters they could operate in the future ". Unmanned or small-manned helicopters could safely carry out critical and life-saving missions, both day and night, over complex terrain and in contested battle spaces ”.
During the flight demonstrations, the pilots activated the MATRIX system to give full control to the flight computer. The helicopter was then able to autonomously complete a long-duration medical resupply mission and a combined cargo delivery and casualty evacuation mission.
The first mission saw the aircraft fly 83 miles while loaded with 400 units of real and simulated blood, totaling 500 pounds, about 250 kg. In the second mission, the helicopter took off with an external cargo of 1.3 tons attached to a 12-meter harness and flew at 240 km / h for 30 minutes to a designated landing zone. During the flight, the helicopter was redirected, simulating a scenario where it was necessary to neutralize a threat near the primary landing site.
Sikorsky and the agency have now stated that they will continue to work on the use of autonomous Black Hawk technology for military operations, "such as crew support and operations, medical logistics and refueling, evacuation of the wounded and commercial applications such as firefighting, freight transport and urban air mobility ".
So, from a military standpoint, we might expect dangerous resupply or rescue missions to be accomplished by unmanned helicopters. For example, rescuing crews behind enemy lines, or refueling isolated units under enemy fire. But this helicopter also paves the way for controlled and safe flight for civilian use.
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The DARPA article flying unmanned Black Hawk helicopters on mission comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/darpa-fa-volare-in-missione-gli-elicotteri-black-hawk-senza-equipaggio/ on Sat, 05 Nov 2022 12:19:17 +0000.