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A flight autonomy system has been chosen to take part in a U.S. Marine Corps demonstration.
Sikorksky has been selected by the Marine Corps to showcase the maturity and capability of the MATRIX™ flight autonomy system.
Operationally relevant demonstration flights during 2025 using Sikorsky’s Optionally Piloted UH-60 Black Hawk® helicopter will inform the service’s Aerial Logistics Connector program how autonomous aircraft can resupply and sustain Marines in contested battlespace.
Rich Benton, Vice President and General Manager of Sikorsky, said, “Aircraft with MATRIX autonomy can safely and reliably perform a variety of complex missions, including internal and external cargo transport with no one on board.
“With the Marine Corps, we will explore how an autonomy-based fleet of uncrewed aerial systems, rotary and fixed wing aircraft can sustain the expeditionary force with precision resupply during distributed, high-tempo operations.”
The Marine Corps demonstrations will show how autonomous aircraft can keep future Marine forces supplied, whether operating from Navy ships or expeditionary bases ashore. Marines also will interface with Sikorsky’s autonomous aircraft via a tablet to make mission changes before or after take-off.
Demonstrations of the MATRIX flight system are funded under a recent Phase 1 Aerial Logistics Connector agreement through an Other Transaction Agreement under the Naval Aviation Systems Consortium to Sikorsky by the Naval Air Systems Command.
Sikorsky Innovations, the rapid development and prototyping group, has demonstrated mission relevant capabilities of the MATRIX system in both military and commercial operational environments aboard multiple rotary and fixed wing aircraft.
Initially intended to improve safety of flight for crewed helicopters, the system matured with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ALIAS program. Advanced features include assisted flight handling for two pilot operations, virtual co-pilot for a single pilot, or fully autonomous flight with no pilots.
