The UH-60 Black Hawk has previously flown without a human pilot, but now it\u2019s fully reconfigured to be an unmanned aircraft capable of flying a variety of missions, according to Lockheed Martin\u2019s Sikorsky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company is unveiling the unmanned aircraft system version of the Black Hawk at the Association of the U.S. Army\u2019s conference, marking Sikorsky\u2019s latest leap in autonomous helicopter development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aircraft, designated the S-70 UAS and nicknamed the \u201cU-HAWK,\u201d was developed in less than a year, Ramsey Bentley, Sikorsky\u2019s director of strategy and business development for advanced programs, told Defense News. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe purchased a Black Hawk from the Army, a UH-60 Lima model,\u201d Bentley said. \u201cAnd we basically, within 10 months, have taken that aircraft from concept to putting it on the floor of AUSA, and it is now a UAS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The effort builds on Sikorsky\u2019s ongoing work to demonstrate optionally piloted flight using its Matrix autonomy system. At last year\u2019s AUSA conference, Sikorsky remotely flew an OPV Black Hawk in Stratford, Connecticut, from the show floor in Washington, D.C. \u201cWe said, hey, we can do one better. Why don\u2019t we take a Black Hawk and turn that into a UAS?\u201d Bentley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To achieve that, Sikorsky \u201ccompletely removed the cockpit and the crew stations. We removed all the flight controls, and we turned it into a pure UAS,\u201d Bentley said. \u201cBy removal of the cockpit, we increased the volume of the aircraft by over 20%.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The redesign allows the U-HAWK to carry a variety of payloads to support combat operations and logistics. \u201cWe took the nose off the aircraft and we replaced it with clam shell doors and a ramp. So we are able to load unmanned ground vehicles, we\u2019re able to put a [High Mobility Artillery Rocket System] pod right down the center of the aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U-Hawk could also be equipped with a \u201claunched effects quiver,\u201d Bentley said, which is a pod installed near the aircraft\u2019s doors for shooting things out of the sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sikorsky will showcase that versatility during the AUSA exhibition with multiple configurations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn day one \u2026 we are going to feature both the launched effects quiver and we\u2019re going to have a Hunter WOLF UGV in the front end of the aircraft,\u201d Bentley said. \u201cAs we do the reveal, the doors are going to open up and the UGV is actually going to come down the ramp in the front.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HDT is the manufacturer of the ground vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later in the week, Sikorsky plans to highlight logistics missions by loading Joint Modular Intermodal Containers (JMICs) inside the aircraft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEach day will probably have a different loadout in the aircraft, showing that multi-role, multi-mission capability,\u201d Bentley said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U-HAWK uses Sikorsky\u2019s Matrix technology to enable fully autonomous flight \u201cfrom startup, flight and shutdown,\u201d Bentley said. \u201cIt takes a tablet to operate the aircraft. Literally any soldier can take this tablet, they can crank the aircraft, they can program a mission in for the aircraft, and the aircraft is fully autonomous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bentley added that next year Sikorsky plans to conduct demonstration flights of the U-HAWK as it continues to refine the aircraft\u2019s design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The effort comes at a time when the company is focusing heavily on how to modernize the Army\u2019s work horse helicopter to serve new roles after it lost a competition to produce a Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft for the Army to Textron\u2019s Bell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sikorsky was additionally competing to build a Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft and was seen as the top contender with its coaxial option, but the Army canceled the competition in 2024 in favor of supplementing manned aviation with more drones and launched effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sikorsky sees the new platform as a step toward providing Army commanders with more flexible, autonomous logistics and mission support options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just a tremendous capability that\u2019s going to open a lot of doors for the customer,\u201d Bentley said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sikorsky unveils the S-70 UAS \u201cU-HAWK,\u201d a fully unmanned Black Hawk engineered for autonomous logistics, payload delivery, and multi-mission operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":14,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[78,160,29,12,14,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3330],"class_list":["post-70741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ausa-digital-show-dailies","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-industry","category-land","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"L3ENPME7GRDAXDQH274CEMQ37Y","arc_canonical_url":"\/land\/2025\/10\/13\/sikorsky-turns-the-venerable-black-hawk-into-a-true-unmanned-aircraft\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n