BLACK HAWK ABOVE AND BEYOND
Te UHPO is implementing agile soft- ware development and MOSA through avionics obsolescence mitigation to enable industry competition with reus- able software “apps” for multiple Army aviation platforms. Industry partners will submit “apps” to an Army aviation “app store” to create a combined Black Hawk Operational Flight Program (OFP)—the software portion of the MOSA cockpit in the Black Hawk. When deemed suffi- ciently mature, the combined OFP will undergo independent verification and validation by the Original Equipment Manufacturer, followed by system-level flight testing by the U.S. Army to ensure it achieves the desired functionality and maintains airworthiness. Tese events will enable internal and external stakeholders to evaluate the maturity and benefits of the combined OFP available for quarterly releases to the Black Hawk fleet.
RISK REDUCTION FOR THE ARMY OF 2050 Two key risk reduction areas for both future and enduring fleet OPC-enabled pilot workload reduction are integration of autonomy and AI into FBW avionics software and hardware and improvements in sensor data fusion reliability and avail- ability. AI will be seamlessly integrated into aviate and navigate functions to reduce pilot workload and allow for addi- tional duties to be performed safely by the Soldier aviators. Te OPC-enabled pilot workload reductions are any improve- ments to the operation of the Black Hawk that reduce the mental and physical tasks of the aviator. A helicopter that contains FBW avionics software and hardware has removed the hydraulics-based control of the swashplate (a device that controls the angle of the rotor blades) and rotor blades and replaced it with electromagnetic actu- ation of the control mechanisms. Sensor data fusion reliability and availability are necessary to use in aviation-related
74 Army AL&T Magazine Spring 2025
STICK THE LANDING
A UH-60M Black Hawk sets down at the Sparkman Center at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, on Dec. 6, 2023, as part of a demonstration for a Brazilian Army senior delegation. (Photo by William “Lee” Suggs, UHPO)
IN FULL FLIGHT
The multi-mission UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, pictured here at the Sikorsky Development Flight Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, is more capable, more survivable, more powerful and easier to maintain than its predecessors. (Photo courtesy of Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company)
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