The US Army has awarded autonomous flight solutions provider Near Earth Autonomy a $15 million contract to develop an autonomous flight retrofit package for the service’s Sikorsky UH-60L utility helicopters.
Pittsburgh-based Near Earth says the programme aims to deliver a kit that will enable the army to convert older Black Hawks into an uncrewed logistics platform that can operate without the need for either onboard or remote pilots.
“The initiative establishes a repeatable, scalable process to retrofit a broad range of rotary-wing platforms, allowing the army to avoid long acquisition cycles and unlock new capabilities from legacy aircraft,” Near Earth says.
The army is in the midst of a generational transformation of its aviation fleet. It is developing a new manned tiltrotor, fielding a diverse array of new small uncrewed aerial systems and developing so-called optionally piloted technology for legacy rotorcraft.
Near Earth already faces some competition in the latter category.
Vertical flight heavyweight Sikorsky has its own contract with the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to modify a newer model UH-60M with an optionally piloted kit called Matrix.
That aircraft has been dubbed the UH-60MX, and is based on proven technology Sikorsky has been flying for several years on a specially modified UH-60A called the Optionally Piloted Vehicle.
Near Earth notes its autonomy architecture will be designed to be adaptable across fleets – not specific to the UH-60L.
Both companies appear to be taking a similar approach to the engineering problem. They are modifying Black Hawks with sensors that feed data to onboard autonomy processors that then send inputs to a new fly-by-wire flight control system, manoeuvring the aircraft. The technology can react to obstacles.
Near Earth calls its system Captain.
Notably, aircraft with Captain and Matrix retain the flight controls and standard computers, allowing them to be operated either by pilots or autonomously.
The army tells FlightGlobal the contract with Near Earth will cover two demonstration events. If those are deemed successful, the service says it will pursue an unspecified follow-on effort to develop the unmanned UH-60L capability towards qualification.
The army adds that there is no connection between the contract with Near Earth and DARPA’s UH-60MX programme with Sikorsky.
The Pentagon often issues research grants to competing firms when new technologies are in early stages of development.
It is possible the army specifically seeks long-term uses for its older UH-60Ls, which pre-date the latest UH-60Ms still being assembled and delivered by Sikorsky.
The service at one point planned to upgrade the “Lima” model Black Hawks, which were first fielded in 1987, to a modernised UH-60V standard. However, that programme was cancelled under a 2024 realignment of the army’s aviation strategy, in favour of buying more new-build “Mike” models.
The army has 553 UH-60Ls in active service, according to fleets data from aviation analytics firm Cirium. That represents approximately 25% of the army’s total UH-60 fleet, Cirium says.
The UH-60Ls are 28 years old on average, though several have logged more than 40 years of service. Rather than retiring the ageing craft, the army may convert its greying Lima fleet into uncrewed delivery vehicles – freeing up pilots and newer aircraft for more-intensive work.
“This programme is a significant step forward for army logistics and autonomy,” says Sanjiv Singh, chief executive of Near Earth.
The company has partnered with avionics provider Honeywell Aerospace on the project, with Honeywell supplying several key pieces of hardware for the Captain system.
Story updated 30 April to include a response from the US Army’s Program Executive Office on Aviation
