Autonomous Black Hawk logistics retrofit selected by U.S. Army
NewsApril 30, 2025
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania. Near Earth Autonomy, in partnership with Honeywell, won a $15 million contract from the U.S. Army to develop an uncrewed logistics capability by retrofitting UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters with autonomous flight systems, the company announced in a statement.
Funded by Army PEO Aviation, the effort will deliver a modular retrofit kit that enables optionally piloted operations without relying on onboard crew, remote pilots, or continuous data links, according to the statement. The goal is to improve logistics throughput in contested environments while reducing risk to personnel.
The program incorporates Near Earth's autonomy architecture, designed to support operations in degraded or denied GPS and communications environments. The system will be developed using a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA) to support future adaptability and cost-effective upgrades, the company says.
Honeywell will contribute scalable, certifiable avionics technologies to support the system’s integration on the Black Hawk platform. The architecture is expected to be adaptable across a wide range of rotary-wing platforms beyond the UH-60L.
The Army plans to conduct a series of test flights as it develops new procedures for autonomous aerial logistics operations.
