Tag: Sikorsky

Sikorsky Unveils U-Hawk, a Fully Autonomous Cargo Black Hawk

Aerotime reports, “Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, has unveiled the S-70UAS U-Hawk, a fully autonomous variant of the UH-60 Black Hawk designed to operate as a heavy-lift cargo drone. Developed in just ten months, the prototype replaces the Black Hawk’s cockpit with actuated clamshell doors and a loading ramp, transforming the crewed helicopter into a platform capable of operating without pilots on board. Equipped with MATRIX™ autonomy software and a new fly-by-wire system, the aircraft can take off, fly, and land entirely under autonomous control.”
Full Story (Aerotime)

Flight Tests Prove Capability of Sikorsky’s ‘Rotor Blown Wing’ Drone

Defense News reports, “Through extensive flight tests earlier this year, Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky has proven the capability of a ‘rotor blown wing’ unmanned aircraft system that can fly like a helicopter or an airplane, the company announced Monday. The drone is a 115-pound, battery-powered twin prop-rotor aircraft that the company said can be scaled larger, ‘requiring hybrid-electric propulsion.’”
Full Story (Defense News)

 

 

 

 

Video

Sikorsky Flies Rotor Blown Wing UAS in Helicopter and Airplane Modes
(Lockheed Martin; YouTube)

Sikorsky and Rain Successfully Demonstrate Wildfire Mission Autonomy

Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “Sikorsky and Rain have successfully demonstrated how an autonomous Black Hawk helicopter can be commanded to take off, identify the location and size of a small fire, and then accurately drop water to suppress the flames. Carried out on October 29 at Sikorsky headquarters in Stratford, the Rapid Wildfire Response Demonstration showed the effective fusion of Sikorsky’s MATRIX flight autonomy with Rain’s wildfire mission autonomy system to suppress a fire in its incipient stage using this innovative firefighting UAV.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)

DARPA Funds Sikorsky to Convert Black Hawk Into Drone

Aerotime reports, “American aircraft manufacturer Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, will convert a United States Army UH-60M Black Hawk into a drone. The company received a $6 million award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to install the company’s ALIAS/MATRIX flight autonomy system onto the helicopter, essentially converting it into a drone.”
Full Story (Aerotime)

Sikorsky Performing Flight Trials for VTOL Tail-Sitter UAS

Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, is carrying out flight tests to mature the control laws and aerodynamics of a novel vertical takeoff and landing uncrewed aerial system (VTOL / UAS). The flight tests aim to prove the efficiency and scalability of a twin proprotor ‘rotor blown wing’ configuration, designed to sit on its tail to take-off and land like a helicopter, and transition easily to horizontal forward flight.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)

Norway Considers Grounding Sikorsky Helicopters After Fatal Crash

Reuters reports, “Norway on Thursday halted all helicopter traffic to its offshore oil and gas fields after a deadly crash, and said it was considering grounding Sikorsky’s S-92A aircraft model while investigating the accident.” During a search and rescue mission Wednesday, one occupant was killed and five others were injured when a “helicopter plunged into the ocean off western Norway … police and oil company officials said.”
Full Story (Reuters)

NASA, DARPA, Sikorsky Design Air Taxi Software

ExecutiveGov reports that NASA is working with DARPA and Sikorsky “to develop and test autonomous software designed for future self-flying air taxis.” NASA said the research is “led by NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility program, which aims to take transportation to new heights by innovating passenger and freight flights in dense traffic environments and other scenarios.” AAM’s mission is “to ensure a safe, accessible, automated, yet affordable air transport in hard-to-reach urban and rural areas.” The three organizations “are currently designing software using scripted flight paths as well as customized test tablets and ground control room simulations to understand the technology’s behavior and response to air-to-air encounters.” The software will eventually “be installed and tested on Sikorsky’s modified S-76B helicopter, labeled the Autonomy Research Aircraft, and its Optionally Piloted Vehicle Black Hawk helicopter.”
Full Story (ExecutiveGov)

NASA Conducting Research Flights with Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft

Aviation Today reports that NASA pilots and researchers “began conducting research flights with the Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft, or SARA, in March. The system uses Sikorsky’s MATRIX Technology that is designed to enable operators to autonomously fly any aircraft, or to fly an aircraft as an optionally piloted vehicle.” The pilots and researchers “performing these flight tests are part of NASA’s Integration of Automated Systems (IAS) effort within the Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign program.” NASA’s team has partnered with Sikorsky and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to start a “new series of flight test campaigns in the past couple of weeks to continue exploring autonomous technologies.” The “new test flights involve determining how well the SARA platform can interpret a flight path’s four-dimensional trajectories into primitive commands and then follow those commands.”
Full Story (Aviation Today)