Sikorsky on Track for U-Hawk First Flight Next Year

Sikorsky Aircraft’s upcoming fully autonomous UH-60L Black Hawk variant, the S-70UAS U-Hawk, is on track to perform its first test flight next year. Speaking to reporters during the Dubai Airshow, Sikorsky confirmed that the program has already registered worldwide interest in a capability that could include “reusing airframes that are already in the system.”

Unveiled with a mockup in October at the annual Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, the U-Hawk went from “concept to what we call concrete in 10 months,” Ramsey Bentley, Sikorsky’s director of strategy and business development for advanced programs, told reporters during the briefing.

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.

In the U-Hawk, Sikorsky has replaced the Black Hawk’s cockpit and flight deck with two actuated clamshell doors and an automated ramp for loading and unloading cargo. However, the U-Hawk retains the Black Hawk’s side door, as well as its ability to externally lift up to 9,000 pounds.

A larger cabin space allows for longer oversized cargo items such as missiles, the company said. For example, it can carry up to six HIMARS rockets internally. The U-Hawk could also carry swarms of reconnaissance or strike drones, as well as automated ground vehicles, which can use the new ramp to drive directly into the cargo bay.

Noting the swift transformation into a concrete product, Rich Benton, Sikorsky vice president and general manager, added, “The modifications made to transform this crewed Black Hawk into a multi-mission payload UAS can be replicated at scale quickly and affordably.” U-Hawk flight testing is expected to begin in 2026.

Bentley described this as “a very mature system working on multiple configurations of aircraft—rotary, fixed-wing aircraft, and also UAS [uncrewed aerial systems].”

In lieu of the Black Hawk’s conventional flight controls, the U-Hawk features a fly-by-wire system that integrates with Sikorsky’s Matrix autonomous flight technology. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, has previously demonstrated the Matrix system on Black Hawks for the U.S. Army and DARPA, and it recently demonstrated autonomous aerial firefighting capabilities.

“The U‑Hawk offers a cost‑effective utility UAS by leveraging commonality with the existing UH‑60 fleet, and its uncrewed nature reduces both operating and maintenance costs,” said Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations, the company’s rapid prototyping group.

“We focused on efficiencies in the retrofit by designing and manufacturing vehicle management computers, actuation components, and airframe modifications. We will incorporate those efficiencies into future modifications and manufacturing for our family of UAS products.”

U-Hawk flights are remotely operated using tablets, and the development team tested the flight control system by giving the tablet to four-star generals and 19-year-old trainees. “They’ve all had no issue,” Bentley said.

“The tablet allows you to actually take the aircraft from a ground start all the way through the flight and shut down the aircraft,” Bentley noted, “so the aircraft is fully able to handle all the emergency procedures and everything else, just like a human pilot would in the aircraft.”

Alongside new-builds, “there might be another use for an [older UH-60] aircraft to extend its life by this different sort of autonomous application,” Beth Parcella, Sikorsky's vice president of strategy and business development, said during the briefing. However, “to reinstall a cockpit would probably be cost-prohibitive at that point.”

The uncrewed Black Hawk is part of a larger drive toward autonomy at Sikorsky. The company also has unveiled plans for a family of autonomous and hybrid-electric cargo drones called Nomad, which it said could scale from a small Group 3 UAS “to the footprint equivalent of a Black Hawk.” The Nomad design features a rotor-blown, tilt-wing tailsitter with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities. Sikorsky has already flown a 115-pound demonstrator and is preparing to begin test flights with the larger Nomad 100 prototype in the coming months.