In brief: Everyone is automating everything these days, and military aircraft are no exception. The venerable UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, first used by the US Army in 1979, is set to receive upgrades that will allow it to take off with the touch of a button – and potentially even without pilots onboard.
The US Army is teaming up with a company called Skyryse to make their massive fleet of over 2,100 UH-60 Black Hawks significantly smarter and easier to operate.
The project will be fueled by Skyryse's "SkyOS," which is being billed as the world's first universal operating system for flight. The system is designed to simplify pretty much every aspect of helicopter operations through automation and intelligent interfaces.
SkyOS completely ditches the old-school pilots' yokes and instrument panels, which can be tough to use in the heat of battle. Instead, it uses two simple touchscreen displays and a single side-stick controller to command the aircraft. Everything from airspeed to navigation is conveniently a finger away.
Now, the use of touchscreens may sound too distracting or fiddly for serious military ops. To compensate for this, SkyOS incorporates smart 3D terrain mapping to alert pilots to hazards. It can automatically hold a stable hover with one tap. And it has full triple-redundant fly-by-wire backups for absolute reliability.
Currently, it takes 2-3 years for pilots to be certified for Army helicopters like the Black Hawk. SkyOS aims to streamline that process considerably. It could even allow almost anyone to fly these choppers with some basic training, though that's obviously not the Army's intention. The long-term vision is to make flying so simple that minimal training would be required for new pilots.
Moreover, the consistent, hardware-agnostic nature of the software could ultimately allow skills to transfer between different aircraft types. But perhaps the greatest perk offered by the system is optionally-piloted operation, which could allow Black Hawks to fly unmanned for hazardous missions.
So, when can we expect to see Black Hawks getting the smart treatment? The integration process is already underway, but it won't be an instant overhaul. Skyryse's system requires retrofitting helicopters with new touchscreen hardware and complex re-wiring. It's an intricate process that will likely play out incrementally over several years.