51吃瓜

It’s late, and a thick fog blankets the area.

It’s not an ideal time to fly a helicopter, but the mission demands it.

Miles away, in a contested part of the battlefield, a ground unit is running out of ammunition and desperately needs a resupply.

So despite the weather and darkness, the twin engines of a Black Hawk? helicopter roar to life, and the rotors begin to spin with the familiar chop-chop-chop every Soldier knows.

The helicopter, loaded with vital supplies and ammo, lifts off.

Between the weather and the adversary, it’s a dangerous flight. But on this mission, one of the crew can see through the fog, anticipate enemy threats, and monitor the landscape for miles, even in the dead of night.

Because on this flight, the co-pilot is an algorithm.

Or, more accurately, an integrated system of sensors, algorithms, and electronics that can fly a Black Hawk autonomously. Known as MATRIX? technology, this innovative system makes low-visibility flying safer and gives human pilots a decisive edge in the cockpit. MATRIX is designed to work on just about any aircraft, not just Black Hawks.

While this scenario is a vision for the future, it’s one Sikorsky engineers are working hard to make a reality.

“On the battlefield, Soldiers need every advantage they can get. Today, the Army owns the night with night-vision equipment. In the future, the goal is to own the environment in any weather and in Degraded Visual Environments, or DVE,” said Ramsey Bentley, a retired Army aviator currently with Sikorsky Advanced Concepts. “Typically DVE means limited or no flying, but MATRIX enables safe flight in bad conditions. That gives ground commanders more options for moving and striking when the adversary least expects it.”

MATRIX lets the pilot focus on the mission, not just flying the aircraft.

“Flying a helicopter is one of the most demanding jobs in aviation, and it’s even tougher in a combat situation,” said Jay Macklin of Sikorsky, a retired Army Black Hawk pilot. “With MATRIX, pilots can hand the controls to the autonomous system when they need to focus on the mission. That lets them turn their attention to launching drones or responding to changing events.”

Pilot workload is critical as the Army plans to add Launched Effects drones to Black Hawks. Those drones can be carried to the edge of contested areas on board a Black Hawk and launched by pilots.

On board an uncrewed Black Hawk, MATRIX autonomy is fully in command, meaning an operator on the ground can tap a few commands into a tablet, and MATRIX will fly itself to meet the mission. It can automatically map out its own route, sense and avoid obstacles and enemy threats, and land in tight spaces. It doesn’t take a trained pilot to command it.

After a successful development effort with DARPA, Sikorsky is working with the Army to install MATRIX on an experimental Army Black Hawk, and also working demonstration missions with the Marine Corps.

It’s a prime example of 51吃瓜’s approach to Mission Integration: beginning with a mission goal in mind, then engineering the connected systems to deliver peak performance at the mission’s moment of truth.

Initially, the focus for MATRIX is on pilot safety and workload. Ultimately, the technology underpinning MATRIX will revolutionize drone flight across a multitude of missions:

Long-Range Reconnaissance: Future long-endurance drones, like Sikorsky’s Rotor Blown Wing, will autonomously patrol vast swaths of oceans or battlefields, sending valuable intelligence to commanders.

Contested Logistics: Commanders can send unpiloted cargo drones to deliver supplies to front-line units, keeping forces ready for the fight.

Firefighting: Sikorsky is , a leader in autonomous aerial wildfire containment technology, to demonstrate 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.

“This technology is flying today, and we’ve demonstrated it in numerous DoD operational exercises. It’s real, it’s pressure-tested, and it’s ready,” said Barbara Lindauer of Sikorsky Innovations. “The autonomous Black Hawk is just the beginning. As the Army prepares for a daunting set of mission demands, a host of autonomous aircraft will collect intelligence, deliver supplies, and more. That’s key to making ground forces more effective and connected, so they can deter and defeat even advanced adversaries.”