Five years ago, the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter got a digital cockpit and fly-by-wire controls. Starting in 2011, the US Army would like it to perform missions
without a pilot at the helm. In a 140-page "Unmanned Aircraft Systems Roadmap" released earlier this month, the Armed Forces reveal that the UH-60, AH-64, CH-47 and OH-58D whirlybirds will all be part of a new aircraft category called Optionally Piloted Vehicles (OPV) -- meaning in future, the flick of a switch will turn them into giant
UAVs. If an unmanned Apache gunship makes your boots quake, you're not alone, but you won't truly have reason to fear until 2025. That's when the government estimates half of all Army aircraft will be OPV, and those bots will learn the more deadly behaviors, like
swarming. Sikorsky says the unmanned UH-60M will fly later this year; read the full roadmap PDF at our more coverage link.
posted April 28th 2010 7:13AM
Just do not connect them to Skynet yet!
@DaveBG wow all this about a helicopter? i mean this is absolutely harrible! to think of the reasons for this makes me sick.
@DaveBG
of course there would be a skynet joke here
@Web2
Skynet joke? How about a direct quote:
"In three years, Cyberdyne will become the largest supplier of military computer systems. All stealth bombers are upgraded with Cyberdyne computers, becoming fully unmanned. Afterwards, they fly with a perfect operational record. The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes online on August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware 2:14 AM, Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug..."
@fais
I just replaced all of the word "Skynet" with "Google"
FINALLY, we can stop reading the "12 more troops die in unexplained heli-crash Tuesday"
@eugeneaction
Yeah instead the CHOPPER will explain he just didn't like the guys. (completely unrelated: Skynet is british, thought you should know)
@DaveBG Anyone else thinking of the WarGames movie...
@DaveBG
Wait a minute.. "those bots will learn the more deadly behaviours"
..It's not gonna be controlled by real life humanoids on the ground?
I'm a lot more scared now than I was initially. Taking the pilot and putting him in an armchair sounds a great idea.
However letting a bunch of nerds fly heli's from a command prompt is a lot less appealing.
@fais
But...August 29th is my birthday...I don't wanna die on my birthday!
Yes, let's connect it to the War Games computer instead.
@DDragon
WOPR, if i'm not mistaken.
@DDragon
I just saw your post, after I replied with the same above :)
+1. Some kids sure to accidently take control of the whole fleet.
damit beaten to a skynet comment!
Anyone want to join me in building a bomb shelter?
@Sogeking Sarah Conner, is that you?
PWE PEW PWE.. SHCHCHHCHHHHCHHCHHH.. MEAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....
@sshole HAHA BEST COMMENT EVAR!!!!!!!!!!
Why 2025!? Wasn't the States going to make 1/3 of their armed forces autonomous by 2015?
It's all fun & games until it crashes.
@Crsh Or till it gets hacked somehow.
@Crsh of course, until it crashes into something important. rediculous!
That's it. We're screwed. Anyone wanna pick out the uniforms for the human resistance against skynet?
No, thank you. Please keep the human in the equation, US Armed Forces. I highly disagree with what you do already, but this just takes the cake.
@otarolgam I didn't know Hippies read Tech blogs
@otarolgam Agreed, I hope this doesn't carry any personnel, I wouldn't trust my life to a robot when an rpg is being shot up at me.
@z0phi3l
I thought ONLY hippies read tech blogs...
@otarolgam You highly disagree with soldiers following orders? You DO know where those orders come from, right?
Skynet! Finally has a way of destroying us all! hurrah!
I'd never agree to have a weapons platform without a human making judgment calls behind the wheel, but I do absolutely support remotely controlled vehicles.
It not only allows for more dangerous combat missions without placing the pilot at risk, but should allow for smaller lighter aircraft that can perform maneuvers with higher G-forces than most pilots can sustain, and can allow one highly trained pilot to take control of multiple aircraft, with the "idle" aircraft just monitored by some cheaper lackey (just hope they don't start outsourcing that to india heh).
I used to work for Sikorsky and recently visited and saw the plans for the OPV. It is sweet. The system can take over for a wounded pilot, let the pilot go in back and help with other things, or completely run a mission.
There will always be some kind of human control and safety available for all the people who think an armed helicopter will go haywire and kill someone by mistake. People do that by themselves.
@daveandcori
How does it cope with trees and RPGs?
@ilh The armed POV are all remote controlled for weapons release (just like the predator drones now).
The really cool thing about what Sikorsky is working on is if the pilot was injured, on click of a switch could have the computer fly the helicopter back to base avoiding threats.
@daveandcori
Sounds all nice and dandy, but in said situations, if the vehicle is hit a fe by enemy fire what would be the odds of a computer malfunction?
If this turns out like Blackout in Transformers we'll all be doomed
@3rdsun I think it's a good idea. It could completely
*puts shades on*
transform how wars are fought.
@r3loaded You forgot something...
Yeeaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!
An unmanned flying ANYTHING makes me quake in my boots, given the unreliability of modern American technology.
But then, the helicopter robot probably won't have trouble texting while driving.
@Zhuzhu
Who casually texts, while FLYING in/out of combat zones? You fly a heli, you dont drive it! At least not where people come from
@Neon11234
The Washington Beltway is a combat zone (look at the kill rate), and all the time I see people (apparently) texting while driving on it.
Ah, so get a kill streak on the battlefield and you can call in an remote controlled attack helicopter. Just like Modern Warfare 2!
This sort of tech is inevitable. There's a huge upside to getting rid of the 200lbs of fragile meat and replacing it with an advanced avionics package. Heck, just throwing out the windscreen will save a ton of weight and design time. Put in a little more fuel, maybe a few hundred more rounds for the chain gun, and it could be an even better tactical weapon.
Of course, it will lead to a desensitization of your flight crew, since they'll not interact at any level with their enemy save seeing them on a screen. This, I'm sure, is also considered an advantage, since the order to engage won't be questioned. That, and your pilot get to drive to Vegas on the weekend.
@(Unverified) did you miss that wikileak vid? They already do look at screens and are thus somewhat detached from it. I agree this tech is inevitable though..
Can we sit a Terminator in the pilot's seat for effect?
@Hobsie
Haha, That would be epic!
So the future of Warfare is robot vs. robot. I thought war was supposed to have consequences?
Hmmm. Seems like a waste of money to design it for an "optional" pilot. They should simply design it as an unmanned vehicle, and be done with it. As technology improves, manned vehicles will go the way of the dodo bird.
Keep in mind that unmanned does not mean pilotless. Keep the pilot in a nice safe location.
You sure this is not a Transformer?
I'm just saying.
I fully understand and support the intentions here, specifically for helicopters. Piloting a helicopter is typically harder than your average fixed wing aircraft. Combine this with the slower nature of the heli's, the lower altitude, and the nature of the typical missions heli's are assigned to, and you can see that heli pilots can certainly become a quickly disappearing commodity.
Whoah! A real life ROFLCOPTER.