Army's New Self-Flying Black Hawk

0:00It's March 27th. This is Birmingham News today, AI-powered stories from your city. I'm Corey with the story. The US Army has taken delivery of a new Black Hawk helicopter that can fly fully on its own, or with a pilot at the controls. Announced on March 20th, 2026, this upgrade comes after more than 10 years of work to make flying simpler and safer. The goal here is to cut down on the basic flying tasks so pilots can handle bigger mission needs. It uses a fly-by-wire system instead of old mechanical controls, which keeps the chopper steadier, especially in poor visibility, and automates tough. Moves. This tech started with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and got big boosts from Sikorsky, part of Lockheed Martin Plus. Researchers at Texas A&M University. Together, they built the flight controls and self-lying features. Army test pilots and engineers will put it through intense checks in the months ahead to make sure it performs in real scenarios. As this optional pilot tech rolls out, it could change

1:03how the military handles air missions for years to come.