The research agency of the US Department of Defense (DARPA) announces that it has achieved a small feat with its famous Black Hawk helicopter. A specially-fitted UH-60A successfully flew and maneuvered for half an hour without a pilot in the cockpit over military facilities at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on February 8. The operation was repeated a few days later.
Towards fully autonomous flights?
DARPA expects a lot of benefits from this type of aircraft. “Pilots can focus on mission management rather than mechanics”, said Stuart Young, program manager at the Office of Tactical Technology, in a press release. Another advantage is operational flexibility. This system mobilizes smaller teams with the ability to fly at any time of day or night, even in difficult conditions.
This experiment was held as part of the ALIAS program (Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System) which aims to complete an entire mission autonomously, from takeoff to landing, including the management of emergency events such as breakdowns. The Agency observes that today, even though pilots of civil airliners are most of the time in automatic mode, they still have to manage complex interfaces and react to unexpected situations.
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This isn’t the first time the US military has flown its helicopters autonomously. The Navy is developing this technology on an MQ-8C Fire Scout and a K-Max is already doing cargo in Afghanistan. It has also been using aircraft-sized, long-range combat drones to carry out strikes since the 1990s.
The Agency is planning the first autonomous flight of a fly-by-wire Model M Black Hawk next month at Fort Eustis, Virginia.
Source: DARPA