Army receives a new Black Hawk helicopter, pilot optional

Army receives a new Black Hawk helicopter, pilot optional

The Army officially received its first version of a new Black Hawk helicopter, one modified to allow it to fly without a pilot if soldiers want. On Friday, the Army said it took possession of the new modified Black Hawk, designated the H-60Mx. The helicopter is pilot optional, or as the military calls it, an “Optimally Piloted Vehicle.” Essentially, the new helicopter can be controlled by an Army aviator inside the aircraft, or remotely via tabl…

U.S. Army Receives DARPA’s Optionally Piloted H-60Mx Black Hawk

The U.S. Army will put the H-60Mx and Sikorsky’s MATRIX flight autonomy software through a rigorous operational testing campaign with real world logistics in contested scenarios.  The U.S. Army received on Mar. 19, 2026, the H-60Mx Black Hawk Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) at Fort Eustis, Virginia, the service announced. This comes a little more than a year after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contracted Sikorsky to equi…