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DARPA ALIAS Autonomous Black Hawk Delivered to U.S. Army

DARPA has delivered an experimental fly-by-wire H-60Mx Black Hawk helicopter equipped with the Sikorsky MATRIX autonomy suite to the U.S. Army for advanced operational testing. This delivery marks the completion of DARPA's Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program, which achieved the world's first uninhabited Black Hawk flight in 2022. Under the technology transition agreement between DARPA and the Army's Project Manager for Utility Helicopters, the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command will use the helicopter as a flying laboratory to mature reduced-crew and fully autonomous flight capabilities.

FAA Proposes Superseding Airworthiness Directive for Various Helicopters

The FAA proposes to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2015-20-12, which applies to Sikorsky, Croman Corporation, Carson Helicopters, Robinson Air Crane, Glacier Helicopter, and Siller Helicopters Model helicopters with certain main rotor shaft (MRS) part numbers installed. The proposed AD would retain existing requirements while also establishing retirement lives for each REL MRS, reducing life limits based on a design re-evaluation, and requiring removal of any MRS with oversized dowel pin bores.