From idea to actuality in 10 months, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin firm (NYSE: LMT), has reworked a UH-60L Black Hawk® helicopter into the S-70UAS™ U-Hawk™, a flexible autonomous unmanned plane system (UAS) that has 25% extra cargo house than a typical Black Hawk. Sikorsky changed the cockpit part with actuated clamshell doorways and ramp, and swapped standard flight controls with a third-generation, low-cost, fly-by-wire system built-in with MATRIX™ autonomy know-how.
The S-70UAS U-Hawk plane on show at this week’s Affiliation of america Military exposition exhibits a bigger cabin house to:
- Settle for longer cargo, akin to missiles,
- Drive on/off an uncrewed floor automobile,
- Roll-on/off provides,
- Launch swarms of reconnaissance or strike drones, and
- Carry inside gas tanks for elevated vary or prolonged time on station.
“Sikorsky is innovating a twenty first century resolution by changing UH‑60L Black Hawks into a totally autonomous utility platform,” mentioned Wealthy Benton, Sikorsky vp and basic supervisor. “We developed this prototype from idea to actuality in beneath a 12 months, and the modifications made to remodel this crewed Black Hawk right into a multi-mission payload UAS could be replicated at scale shortly and affordably. The U-Hawk continues the Black Hawk legacy of being the world’s premier utility plane and opens the door to new capabilities as a UAS.”
Redesign and structural modification of the UH-60L plane into its uncrewed U-Hawk configuration is led by speedy prototyping group Sikorsky Improvements. First flight is anticipated in 2026.
U-Hawk-enabled missions
By eliminating the cockpit and inside parts, the U-Hawk has 25% extra cargo house than the UH-60L Black Hawk.
Ahead loading and extra useable cabin house of the U-Hawk plane now gives the pliability to accommodate outsized masses as much as the identical most gross weight.
- Air-ground staff — Drive on/off an uncrewed floor automobile, such because the HDT Hunter Wolf 6×6 UGV.
- Cargo — Transport as much as 4 Joint Modular Intermodal Containers (vs. two immediately).
- Missile transport — Carry a HIMARS pod of six rockets, or two Naval Strike Missiles.
- Launched results — Deploy launched results carrying sensors/munitions from quivers secured to the cabin.
- Endurance — Self-deploy over 1600nm or loiter for as much as 14 hours with out refueling.
Like a UH-60L plane, a U-Hawk variant retains the power to load cargo from the facet door, and externally elevate 9,000 kilos (4,080 kg) utilizing its cargo hook.
Operators – not pilots – fly U-Hawks
A pill provides an operator full command of the U-Hawk plane from start-up to close down.
On the contact of a button, the 2 clamshell doorways open and a ramp lowers to permit straightforward cargo loading or drive-on functionality. To organize for flight, the automated sequence is reversed.
As soon as loaded, an operator inputs mission targets by way of the pill. The MATRIX autonomy system robotically generates a flight plan, counting on cameras, sensors and algorithms to assist navigate the U-Hawk plane safely to its vacation spot.
Reasonably priced utility UAS
By eradicating the cockpit, all seats and crew stations from the plane, the U-Hawk helicopter turns into the primary absolutely autonomous Black Hawk utility helicopter.
“The U‑Hawk gives a value‑efficient utility UAS by leveraging commonality with the prevailing UH‑60 fleet, and its uncrewed nature reduces each working and upkeep prices,” mentioned Igor Cherepinsky, Sikorsky Improvements director. “We centered on efficiencies within the retrofit by designing and manufacturing automobile administration computer systems, actuation parts and airframe modifications. We’ll incorporate these efficiencies into future modifications and manufacturing for our household of UAS merchandise.”
For extra data, go to https://lockheedmartin.com/uhawk.
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