{"id":70875,"date":"2025-11-03T19:10:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T19:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/11\/03\/guardsman-learns-to-fly-autonomous-black-hawk-in-less-than-an-hour\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:17:31","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:17:31","slug":"guardsman-learns-to-fly-autonomous-black-hawk-in-less-than-an-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/air-warfare\/2025\/11\/03\/guardsman-learns-to-fly-autonomous-black-hawk-in-less-than-an-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardsman learns to fly autonomous Black Hawk in less than an hour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A U.S. Army National Guardsman with no previous aviation background learned to successfully maneuver Sikorsky\u2019s optionally piloted Black Hawk helicopter in less than an hour, according to a company release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a training first,<b> <\/b>the Guardsman, using a handheld touchscreen tablet, controlled the Optionally Piloted Vehicle Black Hawk and planned its tasks during Exercise Northern Strike 25-2, a large, biannual multinational exercise sponsored by the National Guard Bureau that took place in Michigan this August. The exercise sees units practice a wide variety of offensive and defensive operations jointly in battle scenarios. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Guardsman, whose name has not been released,<b> <\/b>used the OPV Black Hawk to transport a 2,900-pound water buffalo slingload entirely by remote control, according to the Thursday release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additional first-time demonstrations that took place during the exercise included delivering airborne troops to drop zones at different altitudes and a simulated medical evacuation, the release noted. The airborne drop exercise saw the helicopter perform a back-to-back action while controlled by the Guardsman operating the OPV from a Coast Guard vessel over 70 nautical miles away on Lake Huron. After ordering the helicopter to unload cargo, the soldier then used it to drop airborne troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The OPV Black Hawk also completed a first-ever performance of six hookups and dropoffs of HIMARS launch tubes, according to Sikorsky\u2019s parent company Lockheed Martin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn contested logistics situations, a Black Hawk operating as a large drone offers commanders greater resilience and flexibility to get resources to the point of need,\u201d said Rich Benton, vice president and general manager of Sikorsky, <a href=\"https:\/\/news.lockheedmartin.com\/2025-10-30-US-Soldier-Becomes-First-to-Plan-and-Execute-Autonomous-Black-Hawk-Missions-using-MATRIX-Technology-at-Northern-Strike-25-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/news.lockheedmartin.com\/2025-10-30-US-Soldier-Becomes-First-to-Plan-and-Execute-Autonomous-Black-Hawk-Missions-using-MATRIX-Technology-at-Northern-Strike-25-2\">in a release<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although it retains the ability to be operated by a pilot, the OPV Black Hawk can be programmed to perform tasks remotely and optionally controlled as it carries out its assigned duties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matrix technology, a system developed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lockheedmartin.com\/en-us\/products\/sikorsky-matrix-technology.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.lockheedmartin.com\/en-us\/products\/sikorsky-matrix-technology.html\">in a joint program <\/a>by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Sikorsky, allows the aircraft to transition from piloted to uncrewed, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.darpa.mil\/news\/2022\/alias-flight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.darpa.mil\/news\/2022\/alias-flight\">according to DARPA.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sikorsky also utilizes Matrix techonolgy in its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2025\/10\/13\/sikorsky-turns-the-venerable-black-hawk-into-a-true-unmanned-aircraft\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"\" title=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2025\/10\/13\/sikorsky-turns-the-venerable-black-hawk-into-a-true-unmanned-aircraft\/\">completely autonomous take on the UH-60L Black Hawk<\/a>, nicknamed the \u201cU-HAWK,\u201d which it unveiled during the Association of the U.S. Army\u2019s annual convention this year in Washington.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a training first, an Army National Guardsman used a tablet to control Sikorsky&#8217;s optionally piloted Black Hawk and plan its task during an exercise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":119912,"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":39,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"5":{"categories":["your-army","news","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-army"},"9":{"categories":["unmanned"],"primary_category":"unmanned"}}},"categories":[39,78,160,29,33,36,27],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3504],"class_list":["post-70875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-warfare","category-ausa-digital-show-dailies","category-daily-news-roundup","category-digital-show-dailies","category-home","category-newsletters","category-unmanned"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZZW7TKFFJFEIPDHD2NR572KJZU","arc_canonical_url":"\/air-warfare\/2025\/11\/03\/guardsman-learns-to-fly-autonomous-black-hawk-in-less-than-an-hour\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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