A U.S. Army National Guard soldier planned and executed autonomous missions using a Sikorsky Optionally Piloted Black Hawk helicopter powered by MATRIX technology, Lockheed Martin said Thursday. Lockheed said the soldier was not a trained aviator.

Demonstrations took place during Northern Strike 25-2 in August at Camp Grayling, Michigan. The aircraft was fielded in partnership with the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The soldier, trained in less than an hour, used a handheld tablet to command the helicopter to transport cargo 70 nautical miles and perform multiple precision airborne drops.

During the exercises, the MATRIX-equipped Black Hawk conducted several first-time operations, including an autonomous external sling load and

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