Sikorsky

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky has successfully flown an electric-powered, 115-lb (52-kg) autonomous drone that uses what it calls a "rotor blown wing" to fly like both a helicopter and an airplane and can be scaled for larger airframes.

A helicopter putting out a wildfire may not be news, but a robotic Black Hawk helicopter seeking out one and dropping water on it while the crew sits back and watches certainly is. That's what Sikorsky recently demonstrated to an audience of dignitaries.

Sikorsky has advanced to the next phase of a DARPA project to develop an unmanned VTOL aircraft capable of flying all-weather missions from ships or land. The rotor blown wing VTOL tail-sitter is currently undergoing flight testing.

Sikorsky is developing a hybrid-electric vertical takeoff and landing (HEX/VTOL) tilt-wing demonstrator. It's part of a new family of aircraft that'll run the company's new MATRIX autonomy suite, so it'll fly with or without a pilot.

The line between crewed and uncrewed aircraft has blurred even more after a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter carried out a demonstration cargo mission as well as a medical "emergency rescue" entirely on its own without anyone aboard or human guidance.

The Lockheed Martin Sikorsky-Boeing SB>1 Defiant helicopter has completed its first long-endurance flight, with the revolutionary rotorcraft this week flying 700 nautical miles (810 miles or 1,300 km) from West Palm Beach, Florida, to Nashville, Tennessee.

DARPA's Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program has taken another step forward, with a US Army UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter taking to the air over Fort Campbell, Kentucky on February 5 for a 30-minute autonomous flight with no one aboard.

With the decision on the replacement of the US Army's UH-60 Black Hawk fleet coming down to the wire, the partners behind the SB>1 Defiant have announced that their candidate advanced rotorcraft has completed its first mission profile test flights.

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky Aircraft's S-97 Raider advanced prototype helicopter showed off its agility by completing two demonstration flights for the US Army at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama on April 13 and 15, 2021.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have taken the wraps off their coaxial-rotor Defiant X advanced military helicopter being developed for the US Army's Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft competition to replace the Black Hawk.

The US Army has reduced its Future Attack and Reconnaissance (FARA) competition to two contenders. Bell's 360 Invictus and Sikorsky's Raider X have been okayed to proceed to the prototype phase of a new "knife fighter" small assault helicopter.

Sikorsky has debuted the Raider X light attack reconnaissance helicopter, its entrant in the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft Competitive Prototype program, which is also being contested by Bell, AVX Aircraft, Boeing, and Karem Aircraft.