4. Pilotless Black Hawk Takes Flight (Ft. Igor Cherepinsky)

Left of Boom | A Military.com Podcast

As the military tests out new unmanned aircraft platforms, are pilots soon to go the way of the dodo? On this episode, we talk to Sikorsky Innovations Director Igor Cherepinsky about the future of autonomous aviation, its uses in the military and the status of Sikorsky efforts to develop a pilotless Black Hawk helicopter that could lift off without a human aboard as early as next year.

Sure, at this point we’re familiar with tiny quadcopter drones that hover above sporting events and even the large and deadly MQ-9 Reaper and others in its category. But this is different: like driverless cars, this technology in theory could see humans in the passenger seat, but out of the loop. It’s no coincidence that the military is testing driverless trucks and convoy vehicles at the same time it’s experimenting with these autonomous retrofits for passenger aircraft.

After you listen to the episode, head to Military.com to learn more about the military's daring experiments with flight.