Aviation Today reports that “Rain Aero, a California-based company using advanced aviation technologies to fight wildfires, has successfully equipped both a small rotorcraft drone and a full-sized Black Hawk helicopter with a kit that allows remote operation.” Rain Aero CEO Maxwell Brodie said that the company has “plans to outfit a fleet of drones, based strategically where fires most often erupt around California, where they can be automatically alerted and remotely deployed to dispense fire retardant ahead of advancing flames.” During a webinar hosted by the Helicopter Association International, Brodie said, “We are building this technology as an integration kit to bring to existing aircraft and existing platforms. … We want to be able for our fire agency customers to be able to bring their own aircraft to us and for us to be able to upgrade them as it relates to the broader community here. This technology is of course able to help in the interim between now and when it’s deployed in increasing safety.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: UH-60V Black Hawk
DARPA Successfully Completes Autonomous Black Hawk Flight
Aviation Week reports that DARPA and Sikorsky “have conducted the first fully autonomous flights of a UH-60 Black Hawk with no one on board the helicopter. The flights involved a modified S-70A optionally piloted vehicle (OPV) testbed fitted with Sikorsky’s Matrix autonomy system under DARPA’s Alias program.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
US Army Unveils UH-60V Black Hawk Helicopter
Aviation International News reports that in early October, the US Army “formally lifted the veil on the Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky UH-60V Black Hawk helicopter.” The ceremony was held at Muir Army Airfield in Pennsylvania, where the state’s National Guard operates the Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site (EAATS). Pennsylvania Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Mark Schindler said, “It’s fitting that our location was chosen to begin UH-60 Victor training.” Schindler continued, “The EAATS is an accomplished organization, proving time and time again to be a force multiplier for all components of the U.S. Army and our multi-national partners, unmatched in the Army enterprise.” The UH-60V “represents a significant upgrade of the earlier UH-60L that prepares it for a future serving alongside the new-build UH-60M in a more connected battlefield.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
UH-60V Certified to Fly in National Airspace
ExecutiveGov reports that the UH-60V Black Hawk model has “secured certification to fly in national airspace at any time of the day and under instrumented meteorological conditions.”
Full Story (ExecutiveGov)
Philippines to Purchase 32 New Black Hawk Helicopters
Reuters rreported that the Philippines “is buying 32 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters from Poland-based Sikorsky Aircraft subsidiary PZL Mielec to beef up its existing fleet of 12.” A notice of award was issued December 28 “for the purchase of brand new helicopters under a project that comes with logistics support and a training package for pilots and maintenance crew at a cost of 32 billion pesos ($624 million).”
Full Story (Reuters)