Sikorsky to demonstrate flight autonomy to US Marine Corps

Stratford, Connecticut-based Sikorsky has been selected by the US Marine Corps to demonstrate the maturity and capability of its MATRIX flight autonomy system. Operationally relevant demonstration flights during 2025 using Sikorsky’s Optionally Piloted UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter will inform the USMC’s Aerial Logistics Connector program on how autonomous aircraft can resupply and sustain Marines in contested battlespace.

“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,” said Rich Benton, vice president and general manager of Sikorsky. “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.” Marines also will interface with Sikorsky’s autonomous helicopter via a tablet to make mission changes before or after take-off.

The US Marine Corps and Lockheed Martin, which owns Sikorsky, have already explored the use of autonomous helicopters to perform resupply missions in the Middle East, using a Kaman K-Max twin-rotor helicopter. Two years ago the USMC signed another agreement with Kaman to test the company’s KARGO UAV under the Medium Unmanned Logistics Systems – Air (MULS-A) program.

The MATRIX system was developed by Sikorsky Innovations, initially 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.

In October 2024 Sikorsky and DARPA demonstrated autonomous flights of the Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter. DoD leaders on the AUSA tradeshow floor in Washington DC learned to send high level mission goals to the helicopter using an iPad. Three hundred miles away in Stratford the aircraft autonomously took off, hovered, flew a short circuit of the flight field, and landed successfully.

These recent demonstrations build on autonomous logistics flight demonstrations in 2022, when Sikorsky and DARPA successfully demonstrated to the US Army how the Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter, operating without humans on board, can safely and reliably perform cargo resupply missions.