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No, this isn’t a come-on for flight warrant school and a vacation at beautiful tropical Ft. Rucker.<\/p>\n
Sikorsky has announced an unpiloted version of the Blackhawk, to be called the U-hawk, is ready to go. Only took the maker 10 months to design it and get it ready.<\/p>\n
The latest variant of the UH-60 is unlike any other, and it’s a potential game changer. The U-Hawk is the name Sikorsky (a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin) has given to its fully autonomous UH-60 variant. The U-Hawk is touted as “Unpiloted. Uncrewed. Undaunted” on the company website, and it’s been given the temporary designation S-70UAS. It is indeed an uncrewed aerial system (UAS), as the U-Hawk has no need for a physical pilot or crew.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
According to the article, the U-Hawk can carry up to 25% more cargo, up to 5 tons’ worth, can self-deploy itself up to 1841 miles – and can be fitted with HIMARS rocket pods.\u00a0 Okay, now we’re talking.<\/p>\n
There are more than 5,000 Black Hawk helicopters in existence, which begs the question, “Why bother making them automated at all?’ After all, they have a proven track record in and out of combat operations on multiple fronts, so it’s a fair question. Putting pilots and crewmembers onto an aircraft introduces risk, and removing them entirely increases storage space. That alone makes it a worthwhile endeavor, but it’s also true that the future of warfare is all about drones.<\/p>\n
The onboard software and remote hardware makes it possible for anyone to fly them; you don’t need a pilot.<\/p>\n
A soldier can use a tablet to command a U-Hawk remotely, tasking it for a variety of missions. It’s unclear if the U-Hawk will carry personnel, but it certainly has the cargo capacity should the need arise, though none of the mockups show seats in the hold.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
We were doing fine till we got to both carry personnel and ground-controlled by Joe Snuffy. Not riding in that, thenkyewveddymuch. But as a cargo drone carrying “stuff” – absolutely. I really like the “up to 6 HIMARS missiles”. And having 95% commonality with the standard Blackhawk, maintenance should be relatively straightforward – if you can fix one, you can probably work on both.<\/p>\n
So if you’re a groundpounder with a yen to fly a chopper – this baby is right up your alley. As long as you are thinking of riding a tablet instead of riding with Robert Duvall. Might even save the lives of some folks in some hot LZs, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"