For the first time, Black Hawk helicopter flies without anyone aboard
By Jen Judson
Feb 8, 12:45 PM
Sikorsky UH-60A Blackhawk Optionally Piloted Vehicle takes its first uninhabited flight on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022. (Lockheed Martin)
WASHINGTON — A UH-60 Alpha-model Black Hawk helicopter flew for the first time entirely unmanned as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program, Sikorsky announced Feb. 8.
Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky and DARPA have been working on ALIAS for roughly six years, but have always had a pilot in the aircraft just in case, even if the helicopter performed the flight entirely on its own.
There’s a switch in the helicopter called the “210 switch,” Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovation, told reporters during a Feb. 8 virtual press briefing. The switch indicates how many pilots are present in the aircraft; for the first time before the flight, it was turned to zero.
https://www.defensenews.com/land/2022/02/08/black-hawk-helicopter-flies-unmanned-for-the-first-time/
