An autonomous Black Hawk.

An autonomous Black Hawk. DARPA

Autonomous Black Hawk Tests Will Pave the Way For Future Unmanned Missions

Software once designed to be a digital co-pilot is taking the wheel.

Going beyond previous unmanned helicopters that featured “advanced autopilots” or “the beginning of autonomy,” a new DARPA experiment showed off a pilotless Black Hawk rigged to carry out an entire mission based on a commander’s goals. Officials said the demonstration would help the Army, and other services, better figure out how they want to incorporate heavy, self-driving drones into future battle plans. 

On Feb. 5, officials with the DARPA Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System, or ALIAS, program conducted two test flights with an UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter. “The pilots shifted the knob to zero and we did our first uninhabited flight,” Stuart Young, DARPA’s ALIAS program manager, told reporters on Tuesday. 

The flight lasted about 10 minutes; maneuvering was largely limited to pedal turns. But a second, 30-minute flight took the aircraft “cross-country over the range here at Fort Campbell, Kentucky,” Young said.

That might not sound like a particularly important milestone, but previous attempts at helicopter autonomy were far more limited, Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations, told reporters. 

For example, two Kaman K-MAX helicopters flew hundreds of resupply missions for the Marine Corps in Afghanistan, but that was more like a kind of advanced autopilot, Cherepinsky said. And in a 2015 experiment by the Army’s Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, or TARDEC, an unmanned UH-60 demonstrated what he called “kind of the beginning of autonomy.”

“Here we automated the entire aircraft,” including key pre-flight procedures such as power, secondary control, wind checks, and elements of adaptive flying, Cherepinsky said. “On this aircraft that we flew, if we would have lost an engine, the system actually would have handled it. Had [we] lost both engines, the system would have used LIDAR [Light Detection and Ranging] to pick the landing zone and [put] the aircraft down. So this is a truly an autonomous vehicle.” 

It’s the difference between a pilot that can actually see and adapt to changing conditions versus an autopilot with neither of those features. 

“The point here is if you look at the user interface, it's really specifying goals and constraints of the mission, right?” he said. “You're explaining to the aircraft what it is you want it to do. You're having a conversation, right?”

The software, Cherepinsky, said, was conceived to serve the role of a “digital copilot” but has since evolved. “Certainly it is and can be a digital copilot but with an operator on the ground. It really becomes a digital pilot and the human being on the ground becomes a mission commander.”

The ALIAS team is already getting interest in adapting the software for other types of aircraft, such as an F-16 for the Air Force. 

“This is already flying on a large cargo aircraft. I’ll just say that,” he said. 

The Army will be able to use the aircraft as part of its vertical-lift program to better understand what it wants future autonomous aircraft to do. That will inform not only future requirements but also the development of future tactics and techniques. 

Said Young, “We have removed the safety net from our autonomous operations. We want to now provide that to the Army so that they can own it and use it on their own to develop autonomy requirements, more specifically how they would use autonomy on the future battlefield and enable them to have trust and develop that trust in operationally relevant environments.”

NEXT STORY: DOD Wants More Software Factories

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.