Search

Sikorsky’s Optionally Piloted Black Hawk Makes First Flight, ‘Zero-Pilot’ Flights Planned for 2020

Sikorsky’s Optionally Piloted Black Hawk Makes First Flight, ‘Zero-Pilot’ Flights Planned for 2020
A Black Hawk equipped with optionally-piloted vehicle (OPV) technology made its first flight at Sikorsky’s West Palm Beach, Fla., facility on May 29. Sikorsky is developing autonomous and OPV technology that builds on its fly-by-wire technology to ultimately reduce the number one cause of helicopter crashes: Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT). Photo courtesy Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company.

For the better part of an hour on May 29, one of the oldest existing UH-60 Black Hawks was flown with a full-authority fly-by-wire flight control system that eventually could allow the aircraft to fly without a pilot on board. Sikorsky [LMT] has developed a kit that removes all legacy mechanical flight controls from the aircraft and replaces them with its MATRIX technology to make it an optionally piloted vehicle. The company uses the phrase “optimally piloted vehicle” almost interchangeably…

Subscriber-only content. Please log in below.

Not a subscriber or registered user yet?

Please contact us at clientservices@accessintel.com or call us at 888-707-5814 (Monday – Thursday 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and Friday 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET.), to start a free trial, get pricing information, order a reprint, or post an article link on your website.



Contract Updates

Chandler Construction Services Inc. (Ninety Six, South Carolina) – $16,471,000

Chandler Construction Services Inc., Ninety Six, South Carolina, was awarded a $16,471,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the furnishing, installing, and placing into successful operation of water main pipe. The amount of this action is $16,471,000. Bids were solicited via the internet…


M1 Support Services LP (Denton, Texas) – $68,822,271

M1 Support Services LP, Denton, Texas, was awarded a $68,822,271 modification (P00206) to contract W9124G-17-C-0104 for Army and Air Force aviation maintenance. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $5,522,349,151. Work will be performed at…


Lake Union Drydock Co. (LUDC) (Seattle, Washington) – $12,683,144

Lake Union Drydock Co.* (LUDC), Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $12,683,144 firm-fixed-price contract for the maintenance, repair and preservation of YTT-10 (YTT-9 Cape Flattery-class torpedo trials craft) service life extension program. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring…


Innovative Professional Solutions Inc. (Panama City Beach, Florida) – $13,631,598

Innovative Professional Solutions Inc.,* Panama City Beach, Florida, is awarded a $13,631,598 firm-fixed price/cost-only contract for fabrication and installation of minesweeping winches.  This contract includes supplies for the government of the Republic of Korea (100%) under the Foreign Military Sales…