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A US soldier, who is not trained as a pilot, successfully planned and completed real missions using a Black Hawk helicopter made by Lockheed Martin Sikorsky. This helicopter can be piloted by someone or flown automatically. The historic demonstration took place during the Northern Strike 25-2 exercise in August, where Sikorsky, in partnership with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency, fielded its Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) Black Hawk powered by MATRIX autonomy technology. Remotely commanding Black Hawk helicopter In less than an hour of training, a US Army National Guard sergeant first class became the first soldier to independently plan, command, and execute OPV Black Hawk missions using only a handheld tablet. He directed the helicopter to deliver cargo 70 nautical miles away and oversaw multiple precision airborne drops, all without a pilot or test engineer aboard. “This milestone shows how far autonomy has come,” said Rich Benton, vice president and general manager of Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company. An optionally piloted Black Hawk can reduce pilot workload or complete a resupply mission with no humans on board. In contested environments, that capability gives commanders greater flexibility and resilience. During Northern Strike, the OPV Black Hawk completed several missions on its own. It transported cargo inside the aircraft, lifted external loads using a sling, dropped supplies with precise parachutes, and simulated a medical evacuation. Each mission took place under real operational conditions, testing the aircraft’s ability to carry out complex logistics and recovery tasks without direct pilot control. In one exercise, a soldier on a Coast Guard vessel in Lake Huron remotely directed a resupply mission 70 nautical miles away, controlling the aircraft’s racetrack flight patterns and commanding precision parachute drops at different altitudes. It was the first time the OPV Black Hawk performed logistics and airborne delivery entirely under soldier control. First time in a field exercise Another mission involved an autonomous airborne hookup of a 2,900-pound water tank using the aircraft’s hover stability system, another first for the program. Soldiers were able to attach the load quickly and safely while the Black Hawk held the position autonomously. The helicopter also completed six autonomous sling-load operations to transport HIMARS rocket launcher tubes to an alternate landing zone. In a separate exercise, it conducted a simulated casualty evacuation, executing a tail-to-tail patient transfer with a piloted Black Hawk at an unimproved site. It marked the first time an untrained soldier directed an autonomous medical evacuation from inside the aircraft. MATRIX technology, developed under DARPA’s Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program, allows non-pilots to control advanced aircraft using simplified interfaces. The system is designed to take over complex flight operations in degraded or hazardous environments, such as contested logistics, low-visibility conditions, or denied airspace, without risking human crews. Sikorsky said the success at Northern Strike underscores how autonomous aviation can extend mission reach, support distributed operations, and reduce exposure to combat risk. The company stated that it is collaborating with joint services to expand the testing and operational integration of MATRIX-powered aircraft across future military missions.
