The US Army has selected Near Earth Autonomy to lead a new USD 15 million programme to develop and field an optionally piloted contested logistics solution by retrofitting UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters with advanced autonomy kits. This Army Program Executive Office, Aviation funded effort is a collaboration between Near Earth and Honeywell, designed to transform existing aircraft into uncrewed logistics platforms.
Near Earth began working towards an uncrewed Black Hawk in 2021. “At the heart of the programme is a modular retrofit kit that will enable 24/7, uncrewed, high-tempo operations without the need for onboard crew, remote pilots, or continuous data links,” Near Earth said in a press release.
The initiative aims to establish a repeatable, scalable process to retrofit a broad range of rotary-wing platforms. The UH-60L is the first targeted platform, but the architecture is designed for adaptability across fleets. The programme uses a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), which is designed to ensure modularity, cost-efficiency, and ease of future development and maintenance.
Near Earth’s deterministic autonomy architecture, Captain, will be incorporated to enable safe flight and hazard avoidance without the need for an onboard crew, remote pilot, or continuous data link.
The Army will work with Near Earth to develop new operational procedures for autonomous logistics by conducting a series of autonomous flights leading to a mature, mission-ready product for uncrewed aerial logistics.
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