Future Looks Exciting


Right now, drones and helicopters are generally staying in their respective search and rescue lanes during SAR operations. But they could end up working much more closely in the future, and likely will do so as AI-enabled flight control systems evolve.


“We see the future of search and rescue teaming as a


subset of where the future is going for helicopters teaming with unmanned systems for all kinds of operations,” said a Sikorsky spokesperson in response to a Rotor Pro interview request for this article. “We see the helicopter controlling and coordinating the drones from the air, taking in and synthesizing the information they provide, and based on their size, even carrying and launching the drones. For example, the U.S. Army plans to have low-cost lightweight launched effects (LE) drones


72 July/Aug 2024


fly in swarms and feed critical intelligence to joint forces. The Black Hawk helicopter could launch and control LE drones, offering (military) divisions more options and more flexibility for reconnaissance. The Army and Sikorsky have already experimented with equipping the Black Hawk with LE drones. This is another opportunity to leverage technology developed on the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program to deliver advanced capabilities to the warfighter.”


What can be done for the warfighter can also be done for the rescuer, as the history of rotary-wing aircraft has proven time and again. A case in point: Leonardo’s Pretolani foresees a future where SAR drones can be controlled directly from SAR helicopters on the same mission without a drone operator taking up space and payload capacity on that aircraft. To make this a reality, he said, “You need an increase in automation/


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