Rain remotely commands Black Hawk helicopter for firefighting missions

Rain Industries has added the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk to its list of supported aircraft, demonstrating its ability to remotely command aircraft via satellite link from a central command center.

This milestone shows early steps towards a network of automated aircraft capable of responding to ignitions to prevent wildfires.

As part of this capability demonstration, Rain sent a flight plan from their command center in California to the Rain Aircraft Integration Kit installed on a Black Hawk helicopter in Tennessee. Once the onboard safety pilots activated the flight plan, the aircraft flew itself to the hypothetical fire destination and returned.

Rain’s Chief Engineer, Ephraim Nowak, said: “This is a critical first proof-of-concept to illustrate how our software will allow uncrewed aircraft to support firefighting missions.”

The Black Hawk and its firefighting variant, the Firehawk, are familiar aircraft in the fire service, used by agencies such as CAL FIRE, the US Forest Service, and others worldwide.

Rain’s UH-60 Black Hawk demonstration, and the addition of the aircraft type to its list of supported aircraft, comes ahead of a number of scheduled pilot projects with customer fire agencies in California during 2023.