Land Warfare

Army receives first autonomous-ready, optionally piloted Black Hawk 

The H-60Mx Black Hawk has been in the works for over a decade and derived from DARPA's ALIAS program.

By Carley Welch on March 23, 2026 1:25 pm
The U.S. Army’s experimental H‑60MX Black Hawk helicopter uses Sikorsky’s MATRIX autonomy suite, which forms the core of the DARPA ALIAS program. (Photo courtesy of Sikorsky).

WASHINGTON — The Army officially received its first Black Hawk helicopter modified to fly with or without a pilot, referred to as the H-60Mx model. 

Following the delivery of the aircraft Friday, the H-60Mx will undergo “rigorous” testing by the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) in the coming months, according to a press release today from Lockheed Martin subsidiary and Black Hawk producer Sikorsky. The goal, the company said in the release, is for DEVCOM to “seamlessly transition between manned, optionally piloted and fully autonomous modes.” 

“The Army now has a new tool that furthers its vision laid out in the Army Transformation Initiative to mature and qualify pilot‑supported autonomy,” Rich Benton, vice president and general manager of Sikorsky said in the release. “This capability will enhance mission effectiveness and survivability for warfighters today and lay the groundwork for tomorrow’s networked systems.”

RELATED: Sikorsky’s new S-70 UHawk is a Black Hawk, but without the pilot

The helo is also the “primary testbed” for the Army’s Strategic Autonomy Flight Enabler (SAFE) program, which aims to develop a “universal and scalable” autonomy kit that can be used across the Army’s entire fleet of Black Hawks, an Army release announcing the delivery read.

The aircraft has been in the developmental stages for over a decade and is derived from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s (DARPA) Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System, or ALIAS program.

Sikorsky eventually partnered with DARPA on the ALIAS effort, in which the company developed its MATRIX autonomy software that drives the H-60Mx’s self-flying capabilities. 

“After years of successful demonstrations on both commercial and military aircraft, the technology has matured from a developmental concept into a robust and reliable system ready for formal military evaluation,” the Army said its release. 

Separately, in October Sikorsky debuted a different unmanned variant of the Black Hawk, dubbed the S-70 unmanned aerial system or the UHawk, that is built from the ground up to be an unmanned-only system, removing the traditional cockpit entirely. The UHawk also uses the MATRIX technology and was funded completely by Sikorsky.