Meet the S-70UAS

[Zaphod58]

Lockheed has been teasing a big UH-60 announcement set for today. Instead of the usual minor changes to make a new variant, they unveiled a completely unmanned, autonomous aircraft with clamshell nose doors and a ramp for quick loading and unloading. It increases the payload by 25%, can carry launchers for the side doors, or UGVs that can quickly roll down the front ramp and off on to missions. 



https://youtu.be/Zj7tjvTPwWI?si=cix8HjEepijzxA4U

Washington, Oct. 13, 2025 — From concept to reality in 10 months, Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company (NYSE: LMT), has transformed a UH-60L Black Hawk[sup]®[/sup]helicopter into the S-70UAS™ U-Hawk™, a versatile autonomous unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that has 25% more cargo space than a typical Black Hawk. Sikorsky replaced the cockpit section with actuated clamshell doors and ramp, and swapped conventional flight controls with a third-generation, low-cost, fly-by-wire system integrated with MATRIX™ autonomy technology.

https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2025-10-...nomous-UAS

[Avicula]

Concept to a working article in under a year? 25% greater cargo space?? 14 hour unrefueled loiter time??? Daaaaang! Three cheers for the U-Hawk! 

I’ve been whiling away long hours in the road (800-1000 miles every week) listening to AI narrated WWII histories lately, many of which tell of the critical role American industry and innovation played in the turning of the tides from the inevitable German victory to the Allies steamrolling the Axis powers. In light of recent MIC tomfoolery and…questionable…decisions made by SecDef (SecWar?), I have been wondering how we would fare if war were to break out today. Can the United States shift gears and rise to the occasion? 

It seems like the US in particular has largely gotten away from the “a lot of good enough” to “only the bleeding edge of weapons technology” approach to major appropriations, and I wonder how quickly we COULD pivot and ramp up our industrial capacity to meet the challenge. 

The U-Hawk (How long before the boots just start calling it the U-Haul?) seems like a great exercise for the people who would be charged with making that wartime adjustment. “We have an idea. It’s a good idea. It’s a relatively simple idea and it’s based entirely on existing, off the shelf tech.” Seeing things like this and some of the other smaller (but huge at the same time) answers to current needs does my heart good. GA and Anduril attritable CCA, the latest APKWS upgrades, the ISV…stuff like that… It’s just nice to see that we have teams who can rise to the occasion  and deliver USEFUL tools and new takes on proven concepts that don’t involve trying to circumnavigate quantum mechanics to work.

Definitely looking forward to seeing this bad little unit in the air. And I wonder how long before Mr Bezos says to hell with quad-copter deliveries! Bring on the AmazoHawks!

[Tecate]

Very cool project. Not designed for troop movement at all right? UGVs, etc but I can’t see any ground troops willing to hop aboard.

I can see this being very useful in theatre.


Tecate

[Mantiss2021]

I can  envision a near future wherein a squadron(?) of these "U-Hauls" swoop in low to a hot zone somewhere, the clams open, and hordes of robotic, armed, "war dogs" flood out to wreak mechanized havoc.

Who needs beardless, male-physical standard, "warriors"?

 Enlist those pasty, weak gamer geek phenoms if you want to win the wars of the future!

[Avicula]

Very cool project. Not designed for troop movement at all right? UGVs, etc but I can’t see any ground troops willing to hop aboard.

I can see this being very useful in theatre.


Tecate

I envision this working as an air ambulance. It seems like it would be a great way to extract wounded from the immediate area to a forward deployed field hospital.

Fly Doc in with one or two medics or medical support staff to start adding minutes to the Golden Hour. This vehicle can carry a lot of whole blood and other critical medical interventions that just aren’t practical (or possible) in active combat. If they fly in and the wounded are critical, just hop over the ridge to the pre-established LZ/combat aid station and either A.) Offload to an interventional combat trauma surgeon/medic for immediate care or B.) transfer to a manned helo for the longer one-way ride to the hospital and more definitive medical intervention. 

A practical leader in that situation could also take advantage of the incoming vehicle and have them bring in a basic resupply. Ammunition, batteries, food and water etc…

It’s interesting to watch how the end user ultimately chooses to put new tools to work. Someone somewhere almost always thinks of a novel, but incredibly USEFUL, way to incorporate added capabilities to the mix in an attempt to get the upper hand over the other guy.

[Kwaka]

but I can’t see any ground troops willing to hop aboard.

What choice does a squad of aerial drones, robo dogs and T100's have?

For the bright side, if I was in the middle of nowhere all banged up, has better odds.

[Tecate]

Having been a flight medic (although NOT a combat medic), I would be reluctant to fly without a manned crew, but yes! I can see this as a fantastic air medivac platform! Far roomier than the choppers I have been in. 

Although for resupply and UGVs it’s awesome. The possibilities really are endless.

Tecate

[Quantum12]

Thank you for this thread Zaph

[Sky727]

Saying it can carry 9000 pounds ( temperature and Density altitude not specified ?) which ain't to bad if true

[Zaphod58]

Saying it can carry 9000 pounds ( temperature and Density altitude not specified ?) which ain't to bad if true
[Video: https://youtu.be/lIa3w94tV7M]

The UH-60 can carry 9,000 externally as is, with just over 3,000 internally. A 9,000 pound internal load is a big improvement. A UH-60L with a maximum sling load loses just under 1,000 miles in range.