Who needs a drone when you can fly a Black Hawk from a tablet? DARPA's $6 million award to Sikorsky paid off when a National Guard soldier, trained in under an hour, used a handheld tablet to command an optionally piloted Black Hawk through multiple autonomous missions.

Lockheed Martin recently [1]reported that a Black Hawk helicopter built by its Sikorsky subsidiary and outfitted with the company's [2]MATRIX autonomy system, developed under DARPA's Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program, flew a trio of practice missions at Michigan's Camp Grayling in August. At the helm was an Army National Guard Sergeant First Class who "trained in less than an hour" and "became the first soldier to independently plan, command, and execute OPV [optionally piloted] Black Hawk missions using the system's handheld tablet."

In short, a non-aviator was given a handheld tablet and managed to fly a Black Hawk that, while carrying an aircrew, was without a pilot at the controls - and it flew a full 70 nautical miles (80 miles, 129 kilometers) away in the course of the trial.

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The OPV Black Hawk has flown prior missions, but only in the hands of Sikorsky's own team. DARPA first approved the program in [4]October 2024 , giving Sikorsky $6 million to outfit one of its Black Hawks with the tech. It's not clear if more than one of the pilot-optional craft has been configured.

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According to Lockheed Martin, the 70-nautical-mile mission saw the OPV Black Hawk, which can still be piloted by a human if needed, execute a cargo resupply flight planned and commanded by a soldier from a Coast Guard boat on Lake Huron. After dropping off cargo, the National Guard operator used the tablet to send the bird back over Lake Huron, where it flew in "racetrack patterns over the lake while soldiers onboard completed two precision parachute drops," marking the first time the craft had performed such operations entirely under soldier control.

In addition to that flight, the OPV Black Hawk also successfully executed two additional missions, in one instance, sling loading a water buffalo tank (a big military drinking water dispenser for those unfamiliar) to the bottom of the craft. In the other test mission, the craft completed six autonomous hovering hookups of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System launch tubes, as well as conducting a simulated injured soldier recovery operation involving a tail-to-tail transfer (i.e., rapid handover from one craft to the other) of a patient from the automated craft to a human-piloted one.

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Soldiers sling loading an autonomously-operated Black Hawk helicopter at Camp Grayling over the summer - Click to enlarge

Lockheed Martin told us that pilots were present on the aircraft along with soldiers during the test flights in case of emergency, but it doesn't appear that they were needed.

[8]US Air Force says AI-controlled F-16 fighter jet has been dogfighting with humans

[9]Shield AI shows off not-at-all-terrifying autonomous VTOL combat drone

[10]DARPA's Cylon raider autonomous fighter jet advances to next phase

[11]Airbus shows off uncrewed AI-powered Wingman for fighter pilots

The success of the trial, said Sikorsky VP and GM Rich Benton, means OPV Black Hawks can relieve [12]chronically overworked pilots from needing to fly routine missions that could be better handled by a Black Hawk-sized drone.

"An optionally piloted Black Hawk aircraft can reduce pilot workload in a challenging environment or complete a resupply mission without humans on board," Benton said. "In 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."

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Lockheed Martin spokesperson Sarah Zirpolo told The Register that the goal of the OPV program isn't to replace pilots - just to supplement them.

"Sikorsky's OPV Black Hawk preserves crewed capability while adding autonomy," Zirpolo told us in an email. "In missions that require a human pilot, the aircraft remains flyable by humans."

The goal of the system is to give "any soldier who is trained on the tablet interface" the ability to plan and execute missions, Zirpolo added - and by the company's account, not much training is necessary.

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We reached out to DARPA to see if these results were indicative of more pilot-optional Black Hawks to come, but didn't immediately hear back. ®

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[1] 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

[2] https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/sikorsky-matrix-technology.html?

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aQvXBVPaq_zTlTfekczrVgAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[4] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/15/black_hawk_autonomous_tech/

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQvXBVPaq_zTlTfekczrVgAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

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[7] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/11/05/autonomous-black-hawk-sling-load.jpg

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/18/darpa_f16_flight/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/24/shield_ai_x_bat/

[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/14/darpas_scylon_raiders_autonomous_fighter/

[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/05/airbus_wingman_drone/

[12] https://themobilityforum.net/2025/05/13/stress-and-burnout-of-the-military-pilot/

[13] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aQvXBVPaq_zTlTfekczrVgAAABI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

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[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/