California Firefighters Watch Water Drops On Test Fires

Sikorsky and Rain demonstrated autonomous wildfire suppression techniques on test fires using a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter equipped with its MATRIX flight autonomy system and Rain’s wildfire suppression planning software. The firefighting flights were conducted in Southern California on both propane and burning piles of brush.

The demonstration flights also informed firefighters about the potential utility of autonomy to assist crewed and uncrewed firefighting helicopters in locating and suppressing early-stage wildfires.

Rich Benton, Vice President and General Manager of Sikorsky said, “Sikorsky and Rain have integrated two autonomy systems: our MATRIX technology that controls the flight of any crewed or uncrewed aircraft, and Rain’s wildfire mission autonomy system that finds and tracks the fire, develops a suppression plan, and navigates the aircraft to drop water onto the target.

“With this layered autonomy system, incident commanders and pilots can choose a level of autonomy suitable for their mission, adding new features as they experience improved flight safety gains and enhanced suppression functionality.”

The tests were conducted in close collaboration with firefighters from the San Bernardino County Fire Protection District, who built and set fire to multiple brush piles for the aircraft to find and suppress with water drops. The demo flights recorded a total of 24 hours of flight time during the simulated air attacks.

Sikorsky’s autonomous Black Hawk is controlled through a combination of fly-by-wire flight controls, MATRIX flight autonomy, satellite datalink, and onboard thermal and vision cameras. The MATRIX system enables operators to select autonomous or piloted modes.

Dan Munsey, Chief of the San Bernardino County Fire District, said, "The technology that Rain and Sikorsky is demonstrating is a powerful part of the ecosystem of advancing fire service technology that is answering the year-round fire seasons we’re facing throughout California.

“Of all the tools we have to keep wildfires small, none are more effective than rapid suppression on initial attack of a wildfire. Autonomous aircraft—both crewed and uncrewed—can increase flexibility and capacity for on-the-ground incident commanders, ultimately saving lives and property for the communities we serve."

FMI:  lockheedmartin.com/ , www.rain.aero/