NIFTY: Guardsman learns to fly autonomous Black Hawk in less than an hour.

In a training first, the Guardsman, using a handheld touchscreen tablet, controlled the Optionally Piloted Vehicle Black Hawk and planned its tasks during Exercise Northern Strike 25-2, a large, biannual multinational exercise sponsored by the National Guard Bureau that took place in Michigan this August. The exercise sees units practice a wide variety of offensive and defensive operations jointly in battle scenarios.

The Guardsman, whose name has not been released, used the OPV Black Hawk to transport a 2,900-pound water buffalo slingload entirely by remote control, according to the Thursday release.

Reminds me a bit of the Navy using modified Xbox controllers for the photonic masts (modern periscopes) in Virginia-class submarines — and sailors picking them up with almost zero training.