On Friday, October 31st, Lockheed Martin confirmed that a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army National Guard recently planned and executed autonomous missions with an Optionally Piloted (OPV) S-70 Black Hawk using only a handheld tablet. The exercise ran during Northern Strike 25-2 at Camp Grayling in August 2025, and Lockheed Martin made it official this week in their latest press release.
The brain behind the modified S-70 Black Hawk is Sikorsky’s MATRIX intelligence stack, which enables rotary and fixed-wing aircraft to be flown with or without humans on board, depending on the mission. Without any crewmembers onboard, the aircraft becomes an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), or in this context, a drone.
What Was Actually Done
The Sergeant received under one hour of training, then used the control tablet to command the helicopter approximately 70 nautical miles (NM) away, to a test site.
The aircraft was able to conduct multiple precision drops, fly racetrack patterns over Lake Huron, and manage a fully automated medevac scenario all autonomously. The team also executed autonomous sling-load work, including hooking up a 2,900-pound “water buffalo” trailer while hovering.
Why it Matters
- Staying in the race: Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) are being widely adopted around the world by different military groups. Lockheed’s approach is a step in the right direction in terms of advancement in unmanned defense technology.
- Logistics on demand: Ground units can launch resupply or airdrop missions with minimal training and no crew on board. That reduces exposure when weather, enemies, or fatigue stack the deck against crews.
- Bridge to pilotless variants: Soldier-in-the-loop autonomy on today’s airframes is just another step toward a battlefield filled with drones and other autonomous vehicles.
The Bigger Picture
The MATRIX system adds supervised autonomy and fly-by-wire capabilities to the Black Hawk, enabling it to taxi, take off, hover, navigate around obstacles, and land autonomously. Earlier pilot-out flights proved the tech. Handing the tablet to a foot soldier proved who could use it.
Ultimately, these OPV Black Hawks could be used for medevac missions in highly contested war zones. That’s the end goal for Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky with this aircraft and others like it.
DroneXL’s Take
While most military aircraft will have multiple crew members onboard, the loss of an autonomous machine is nothing compared to that of human lives. The more we can remove human loss from the equation of warfare, the better off we’ll be.
I’m not sure if that will happen in my lifetime, but we’re seeing a significant increase in the adoption of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) around the world for civilian and military purposes.
From underwater drones used for infrastructure inspections to an Italian ROV used to counter underwater mines, remotely operated and autonomous systems are transforming our world. Their applications on the modern battlefield can enable significantly more unmanned missions, allowing for fewer soldiers to be put in harm’s way needlessly.
Let me know in the comment section – do you believe unmanned tech, like the newly unveiled Black Hawk, poses a greater benefit or threat to humanity?
