Sikorsky and Robinson Unmanned win U.S. Marine Corps contract for autonomous aerial logistics program

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Marine Corps has awarded a $15.5 million contract to Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, for the Medium Aerial Resupply Vehicle – Expeditionary Logistics (MARV-EL) Increment 2 program. The selected system is the R66 TURBINETRUCK, an autonomous cargo helicopter commercially developed by Sikorsky and Robinson Unmanned that pairs Sikorsky’s MATRIX autonomy with Robinson Helicopter Company’s R66 airframe to support flexible, affordable and rapid combat sustainment.

Designed to move ammunition, medical supplies and other essentials directly to the point of need regardless of terrain, weather or enemy threat, MARV-EL is intended to bridge the gap between small tactical drones and large strategic airlifters. The “middleweight” uncrewed platform is built to operate from austere forward operating bases, ship decks or unimproved landing zones, supporting missions when ground or crewed aviation assets are unavailable and keeping personnel out of danger in high‑risk scenarios.

The R66 TURBINETRUCK is enabled by Sikorsky’s MATRIX autonomy and will leverage similar features as Sikorsky’s fully autonomous S-70UAS U-Hawk helicopter.

“As we expand the MATRIX family, we also extend the reach of uncrewed solutions for both civil and military customers,” said Rich Benton, vice president and general manager of Sikorsky. “The commercially developed R66 TURBINETRUCK is simple, economical and re-configurable; ideal for high-risk, hard-to-reach environments where keeping personnel out of harm’s way is essential.”

“Our partnership with Sikorsky brings the trusted performance and reliability of the R66 platform into the unmanned logistics arena,” said David Smith, president and CEO of Robinson Helicopter Company. “The R66 TURBINETRUCK represents a significant step forward in expanding proven rotorcraft into scalable, autonomous cargo solutions for demanding operational environments. Together, we are delivering a game‑changing capability that will enhance warfighter readiness and open new opportunities for safe, reliable and affordable autonomous transport.”

“Operators need logistics solutions that can keep pace with rapidly changing mission demands without increasing complexity,” said Paul Fermo, president of Robinson Unmanned. “By combining MATRIX’s advanced autonomous capability with the rugged, flight-proven R66 airframe, the R66 TURBINETRUCK delivers that capability whenever and wherever it’s needed—no matter the environment.”

MARV-EL serves as the middleweight capability within the Marine Corps’ Unmanned Logistics System – Air effort. Program requirements call for an uncrewed aircraft able to carry between 1,300 and 2,500 pounds to a combat radius of 100 nautical miles, operated through a common digital handheld device.

Under the plan, Robinson Unmanned will deliver the first R66 TURBINETRUCK to Sikorsky for integration, testing, evaluation and demonstration. The demonstrations will highlight MATRIX’s platform‑agnostic, open‑architecture design operating on the R66 airframe. MATRIX will integrate into the R66 TURBINETRUCK in a manner similar to the S-70UAS U-Hawk, while offering a smaller footprint, different performance parameters and lower operating cost.

Operator workflow mirrors the U-Hawk approach: mission objectives are entered into a digital tablet, after which the system automatically creates a flight plan and uses onboard sensors and algorithms to guide the aircraft to the target location. Sikorsky participated in the Marine Corps’ Aerial Logistics Connector Phase 1 in 2025 and plans to apply that experience to MARV-EL Increment 2.