DARPA just flew a Black Hawk helicopter with ‘nobody in it’

DARPA successfully completed a 30-minute autonomous test flight over Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

The United States military just inched one step closer to bringing autonomous helicopters to the battlefield. Like most strange feats of advanced military technology, this one comes from The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known simply as “DARPA.”

On Tuesday, DARPA said a UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter outfitted with its experimental Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) system safely completed a test flight without anyone in the chopper. The 30-minute test flight occurred over the weekend above a U.S. Army installation at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

DARPA describes its Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) as a “tailorable, drop-in, removable kit,” meant to add sophisticated automation to pre-built aircraft at a fraction of the cost of upgrading individual models with new, advanced avionics and software. The agency imagines this system will one day reduce pilot workloads and ultimately improve aircraft safety.

“With reduced workloads pilots can focus on mission management instead of the mechanics,” DARPA Tactical Technology Office Program Manager Stuart Young said in a statement. “This unique combination of autonomy software and hardware will make flying both smarter and safer.”

ALIAS was used last year in a supervised test where it was accompanied by a safety pilot. In that case, a video of the event made public by Lockheed Martin shows an S-70 OPV Black Hawk taking off from the ground autonomously, avoiding simulated obstacles, and landing.

Stuart went on to say a fully autonomous helicopter system could provide the U.S. military more “operational flexibility” to conduct missions in scenarios deemed too difficult for humans. “This includes the ability to operate aircraft at all times of the day or night, with and without pilots, and in a variety of difficult conditions, such as contested, congested, and degraded visual environments,” Stuart said.

DARPA’s interest in autonomous vehicles broadly dates back decades. In 2004, 2005, and 2007, the agency held its series of “Grand Challenges,” which awarded millions in prize money to competitors who could design vehicles able to autonomously navigate over long distances. AV technology has since undergone transformational change compared to 2004 when not a single vehicle was able to complete DARPA’s 142-mile desert course.

Source: Gizmodo