'Optionally Piloted' Black Hawk Takes A Step Forward

Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, announced yesterday (October 14) it has received a $6 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to advance its flight autonomy program. The government funding will go toward installing Sikorsky’s ALIAS/MATRIX (Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System) in a U.S. Army experimental fly-by-wire Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter designated MX.


This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/6-million-darpa-funding-goes-toward-autonomous-flight-development

I gather “fully uninhabited flight” in this context applies to the flight deck only and not to the cabin. A rather silly, strange and presumptuous proposition, one which senators and representatives may consider viable for “others” but perhaps not so much for their own children and grand children.

“Fully uninhabited” means something like cargo or aircraft repositioning flights. However, you could also have a manned mission sans qualified pilot. Face it, for everything from taxicabs on up, it’s coming.

If I was a ‘grunt’ sitting in back, what would I think if no pilot boarded? Maybe, these things crash with pilots, so my odds are the same?

I’m afraid that, “Climb aboard” is an order that I would not obey.

And I see that the Acronym System Services for Holistic Official Logistical and Environmental Sustainability is in full swing on this one… “ALIAS”…

Is that what piloting has come to mean these days…merely typing in the flight plan into the FMS?! And a work-from-home set-up will do, too!

This topic was automatically closed after 7 days. New replies are no longer allowed.