DARPA details crewless UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter flight

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently detailed the inaugural crewless flight of a UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter utilizing the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS).

“With reduced workloads, pilots can focus on mission management instead of the mechanics,” said Stuart Young, program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office. “This unique combination of autonomy software and hardware will make flying both smarter and safer.”

In conjunction with the optionally piloted vehicle (OPV), the Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky executed one half-hour of uninhabited flight over the Army installation at Fort Campbell, Ky.

ALIAS is a flexible automation architecture for existing manned aircraft enabling safe reduced crew operations facilitating automation into existing aircraft.

“With ALIAS, the Army will have much more operational flexibility,” Young said. “This includes 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.”

Additionally, ALIAS provides a platform for integrating additional automation or autonomy capabilities tailored for specific missions. The ALIAS program is slated to conduct the first flight of a fly-by-wire M-model Black Hawk at Fort Eustis, Virginia, within the next month.