New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Lockheed pitches Sikorsky’s autonomous Black Hawk
A year after losing out to Bell on a new U.S. Army workhorse, Sikorsky saw increased sales of its Black Hawk helicopter to other countries, even as it prepares to duel Bell again this year to win a contract for a new scout helicopter.
Sikorsky makes Black Hawks for the Army at its headquarters plant in Stratford and at a fuselage assembly factory in Bridgeport.
A Poland factory also produces Black Hawks for other countries, freeing up space in Stratford for newer military programs like the CH-53K Sikorsky is producing for the U.S. Marine Corps and Israel.
“There's interest in Congress for modernization of the Black Hawk — there is a huge fleet out there,” said Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet, speaking Tuesday morning on a conference call.
“By adding some of these digital capabilities like autonomy and AI to the Black Hawk — which is a really reliable platform that's out flying in units today in great numbers and across our allies — that's a real value opportunity for the Army and Marine Corps and others that use the helicopter.”
Taiclet added that it is far cheaper and quicker to retrofit existing helicopters with autonomous flight and artificial intelligence systems than to build new ones from scratch, but said the Pentagon has yet to secure sufficient funding to undertake a fleet-wide upgrade for autonomous flight.
“The services and Congress have to agree to that and fund those modernizations and keep those units flying — and that will be up to them,” Taiclet said. “We are trying to provide them every opportunity to make that decision by inserting digital and other technologies like autonomy.”
Lockheed does not break out Sikorsky revenue numbers from its larger Rotary and Mission Systems division that covers an array of defense needs from U.S. Navy ships to lasers.
Rotary and Mission Systems revenue rose slightly from 2022 to $16.2 billion, off the pace of Lockheed Martin's total 2.4 percent gain in revenue to $67.6 billion.
Lockheed Martin is projecting Rotary and Mission Systems revenue between $16.4 billion and $16.9 billion this year, with the company's chief financial officer citing Sikorsky as major contributor to the current backlog of future orders totaling $38 billion.
On the heels of Spain and Norway ordering14 Seahawk helicopters between them, more than 50 more Seahawks are on order for future delivery to India, Greece, South Korea and Australia.
Last fall, Sikorsky took delivery of a General Electric engine that it will install on its prototype Raider-X helicopter in advance of flight tests anticipated for later this year for the Army's Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft.
The U.S. Army is weighing Raider-X against the Bell 360 Invictus protoype for armed scout missions.
The Army is looking to absorb lessons learned in the combat zones of Ukraine and Gaza, according to Gen. James Rainey of the U.S. Army Futures Command, who spoke last month at a forum hosted by the Association of the United States Army.
Rainey said he is most intrigued with the capabilities of smaller unmanned aerial vehicles, particularly drones that can be used by individual companies of combat troops as they probe unknown zones ahead of first contact.
“UAVs are fascinating — I believe it's the leading edge of the ... autonomous disruption,” Rainey told the AUSA audience in mid-December. “I think it's just going to be crazy over the next five to 10 years.”