Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, and Rain, California-based autonomous aerial wildfire containment technology company, recently demonstrated how autonomous Black Hawk helicopters can be used to fight fires.
During the 30-minute flight demonstration, a helicopter using Sikorsky’s MATRIX flight autonomy with Rain’s wildfire mission autonomy system took off, identified the location and size of a small fire, and then accurately dropped water from a Bambi Bucket slung 60 feet beneath the aircraft on the flames.
“Government agencies, aerial firefighting operators, and investors are coming together to learn and see how both flight and mission autonomy can help prevent high intensity million-acre wildfires,” Maxwell Brodie, Rain CEO, said. “Wildfires cost the United States over $390 billion annually, and multiple risk factors are set to grow up to 30 percent by 2030. We look forward to demonstrating to lawmakers how autonomous aircraft can stop fires from breaking out, or continue the fight into the night, and in turbulent and smoky conditions, where crewed aircraft wouldn’t venture.”
A tablet was used to command the helicopter, and attendees provided real-time input and observations to the Sikorsky and Rain teams.
There were three successive water drops. The fire was a 12-inch diameter propane-fueled fire ring emitting a 3-to-6-inch-tall flame.