The UH-60 Black Hawk has previously flown without a human pilot, but now it’s fully reconfigured to be an unmanned aircraft capable of flying a variety of missions, according to Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky.
The company is unveiling the unmanned aircraft system version of the Black Hawk at the Association of the U.S. Army’s conference, marking Sikorsky’s latest leap in autonomous helicopter development.
The aircraft, designated the S-70 UAS and nicknamed the “U-HAWK,” was developed in less than a year, Ramsey Bentley, Sikorsky’s director of strategy and business development for advanced programs, told Defense News.
“We purchased a Black Hawk from the Army, a UH-60 Lima model,” Bentley said. “And we basically, within 10 months, have taken that aircraft from concept to putting it on the floor of AUSA, and it is now a UAS.”
The effort builds on Sikorsky’s ongoing work to demonstrate optionally piloted flight using its Matrix autonomy system. At last year’s AUSA conference, Sikorsky remotely flew an OPV Black Hawk in Stratford, Connecticut, from the show floor in Washington, D.C. “We said, hey, we can do one better. Why don’t we take a Black Hawk and turn that into a UAS?” Bentley said.
To achieve that, Sikorsky “completely removed the cockpit and the crew stations. We removed all the flight controls, and we turned it into a pure UAS,” Bentley said. “By removal of the cockpit, we increased the volume of the aircraft by over 20%.”
The redesign allows the U-HAWK to carry a variety of payloads to support combat operations and logistics. “We took the nose off the aircraft and we replaced it with clam shell doors and a ramp. So we are able to load unmanned ground vehicles, we’re able to put a [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System] pod right down the center of the aircraft.”
The U-Hawk could also be equipped with a “launched effects quiver,” Bentley said, which is a pod installed near the aircraft’s doors for shooting things out of the sides.
Sikorsky will showcase that versatility during the AUSA exhibition with multiple configurations.
“On day one … we are going to feature both the launched effects quiver and we’re going to have a Hunter WOLF UGV in the front end of the aircraft,” Bentley said. “As we do the reveal, the doors are going to open up and the UGV is actually going to come down the ramp in the front.”
HDT is the manufacturer of the ground vehicle.
Later in the week, Sikorsky plans to highlight logistics missions by loading Joint Modular Intermodal Containers (JMICs) inside the aircraft.
“Each day will probably have a different loadout in the aircraft, showing that multi-role, multi-mission capability,” Bentley said.
The U-HAWK uses Sikorsky’s Matrix technology to enable fully autonomous flight “from startup, flight and shutdown,” Bentley said. “It takes a tablet to operate the aircraft. Literally any soldier can take this tablet, they can crank the aircraft, they can program a mission in for the aircraft, and the aircraft is fully autonomous.”
Bentley added that next year Sikorsky plans to conduct demonstration flights of the U-HAWK as it continues to refine the aircraft’s design.
The effort comes at a time when the company is focusing heavily on how to modernize the Army’s work horse helicopter to serve new roles after it lost a competition to produce a Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft for the Army to Textron’s Bell.
Sikorsky was additionally competing to build a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft and was seen as the top contender with its coaxial option, but the Army canceled the competition in 2024 in favor of supplementing manned aviation with more drones and launched effects.
Sikorsky sees the new platform as a step toward providing Army commanders with more flexible, autonomous logistics and mission support options.
“It’s just a tremendous capability that’s going to open a lot of doors for the customer,” Bentley said.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.