Sikorsky has entered a five-year agreement with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to develop and test autonomous aerial firefighting technologies for the S-70i Firehawk helicopter. The effort will focus on reducing pilot workload, improving situational awareness and expanding the ability of crews to operate in difficult wildfire conditions.
The program builds on demonstrations conducted in April, when Sikorsky and California-based Rain tested autonomy systems on an optionally piloted Black Hawk helicopter over staged burns in Southern California. Using MATRIX flight autonomy and Rain’s wildfire suppression planning software, the aircraft located brush piles, calculated suppression plans and executed water drops with limited pilot input.
“With this layered autonomy system, incident commanders and pilots can choose a level of autonomy suitable for their mission,” said Sikorsky Vice President and General Manager Rich Benton.
San Bernardino County Fire Chief Dan Munsey added that “autonomous aircraft—both crewed and uncrewed—can increase flexibility and capacity for on-the-ground incident commanders.”
CAL FIRE operates 16 Firehawks as its primary rotary wing firefighting asset, including two delivered this summer. Sikorsky said the collaboration continues more than two decades of Firehawk use in California and aligns with Lockheed Martin’s 21st Century Firefighting initiative, which also includes C-130 Hercules airtankers and AI-enabled intelligence tools.
The agreement is the latest in growing state-level interest in autonomous aerial technology for firefighting and search and rescue applications.
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