U.S. Army Receives First Optionally Piloted UH-60MX Black Hawk Helicopter | Aviation International News

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

U.S. Army Receives First Optionally Piloted Black Hawk

UH-60MX serves as testbed for Army’s ‘SAFE’ autonomy program

UH-60MX Black Hawk — A Sikorsky operator controls the UH-60MX Black Hawk remotely via tablet during flight testing. © Sikorsky/Lockheed Martin

By Hanneke Weitering • Science & Technology Editor

March 23, 2026

The U.S. Army has taken delivery of its first Black Hawk helicopter that can fly without a pilot. Sikorsky announced on Monday that it had finished integrating and testing its Matrix autonomous flight technology on the optionally piloted Black Hawk, known as the UH-60MX, and delivered it to the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM) in Fort Eustis, Virginia.

Equipped with both Matrix autonomy software and full-authority fly-by-wire controls, the experimental UH-60MX is the Army’s first Black Hawk with fully autonomous flight capabilities. According to Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, DEVCOM will use the aircraft to develop tactics, techniques, and procedures for the use of uncrewed aircraft in defense operations.

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