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
@Professor Hubert J Farnsworth +1 to that... Hehehehehehehehe...
@WhitecollarcriminalFinancial
Most people in the Air Force are not pilots.
@WhitecollarcriminalFinancial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brj2UkUPjCI
Excellent now if they could just do that to my Xbox, and I will be very happy!
@WhitecollarcriminalFinancial
The Army has been calling the Air Force the "Chair Force" for years. Now it just makes more sense.
ummm... overlooked is that 1) we already have armed unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) (e.g. predator B w/ hellfire missiles), 2) even those have a pilot in the loop on the ground, and 3) an OPV is a different beast entirely... still requires a pilot on the flight deck. OPVs are essentially test platforms for developing UAS technology... first step in removing the meat servo from the flight deck.
@WhitecollarcriminalFinancial
Dey tuk er jerbs!
It will be interesting to see if any one could effectively jam the radio signals that will be controlling these. Of course Im sure they thought of that and would just have the helicopter auto fly to pre determined location if it stops getting commands, that is if its GPS isn't jammed or spoofed.
Now make a Space Shuttle "Optionally Piloted", and actually start evolving it, rather than scrapping it.
I want one for my birthday!