Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Sikorsky Unveils Uncrewed Black Hawk Variant
Autonomous U-Hawk replaces the Black Hawk’s cockpit with a cargo door
S-70UAS U-Hawk
Sikorsky transformed the UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter into the S-70UAS U-Hawk, an autonomous drone with 25% more cargo space than a typical Black Hawk. © Sikorsky Aircraft/Lockheed Martin

Sikorsky Aircraft plans to introduce an autonomous, uncrewed variant of the venerable Black Hawk military helicopter called the S-70UAS U-Hawk, the company announced on October 13 as it unveiled a mockup at the annual Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) conference in Washington.

According to Sikorsky, the uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) has 25% more payload capacity than the traditional UH-60L Black Hawk family of utility helicopters, with a maximum payload of 10,000 pounds. It will be able to fly for up to 1,600 nm or loiter for 14 hours without refueling.