Autonomous Black Hawk Demonstration Fights Fire With Precision

Sikorsky and Rain collaboration illustrates how uncrewed aircraft can play a role in searching for and attacking wildfires before they spread out of control, companies say.

Meg Godlewski

Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 04:01 PM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Kimberly Johnson

An autonomous Black Hawk helicopter demonstrates an aerial water drop October 29 in Connecticut. A Wildfire Mission Autonomy System developed by Rain commanded the autonomous aircraft to launch, find, and suppress the fire. [Courtesy: Rain]

Key Takeaways:

Sikorsky and Rain successfully demonstrated an autonomous Black Hawk helicopter, controlled by a tablet, capable of precisely locating and extinguishing simulated wildfires with water drops, even while adjusting for crosswinds.
The helicopter utilized Sikorsky's Matrix flight autonomy technology combined with Rain's Wildfire Mission Autonomy System for unpiloted aerial fire containment.
This technology aims to empower firefighters with autonomous aircraft for rapid, early-stage wildfire suppression, potentially operating in conditions too dangerous for human crews, to reduce the significant costs and risks of large-scale blazes.

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Sikorsky helicopters and autonomous aerial wildfire containment technology company Rain recently demonstrated that pilots don’t have to be in the cockpit to fight fires with precision.

On October 29, a Sikorsky Black Hawk outfitted with Matrix flight autonomy technology and Rain’s Wildfire Mission Autonomy System was used to conduct an aerial water drop during a Rapid Wildfire Response Demonstration at Sikorsky’s headquarters in Stratford, Connecticut.