Great, DARPA Just Flew a Black Hawk Helicopter With Nobody In It

The United States military just inched one step closer to bringing autonomous helicopters to the battlefield. Like most strange feats of advanced military technology, this one comes from The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known simply as "DARPA." On Tuesday, DARPA said a UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter outfitted with its experimental Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) system safely completed a test flight without anyone in the chopper. The 30-minute test flight occurred over the weekend above a U.S. Army installation at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. DARPA describes its Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) as a "tailorable, drop-in, removable kit," meant to add sophisticated automation to pre-built aircraft at a fraction of the cost of upgrading individual models with new, advanced avionics and software.