U.S. Army Launches Black Hawk Upgrade

Sikorsky has won an initial $220 million contract to modernize and upgrade the U.S. Army's aging fleet of Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters.

Since no Black Hawk replacement is planned until at least 2025, the program could see as many as 1,200 early UH-60As and current production -L models remanufactured to the new UH-60M or "modernized" standard over the next 25 years.

"This contract is a vital next step in the road to ensure the Army has the world's finest utility helicopter," says Sikorsky president Dean Borgman. "This program will marry the latest technology to a venerable, battle-tested machine."

The upgrades include digital avionics and flight controls, graphite main rotor blades, and a strengthened fuselage. Sikorsky said the changes will increase the UH-60's payload by 2,000 pounds, increase airspeed by 15 knots, and reduce maintenance costs by 25%.

This year, Sikorsky plans to produce four UH-60M test articles-three converted from existing airframes and one new-build. Work on the first 12 "low rate initial production" aircraft will begin in 2004, and a follow-on lot of 18 aircraft is planned.

The UH-60M will use the same GE T700-GE-701C powerplant as the current production UH-60L, which entered service in 1989. The Army should receive its first UH-60M in 2006. By then, Sikorsky hopes to be rebuilding Black Hawks at the rate of 60 per year.

Sikorsky has built more than 2,500 Black Hawks since the first was delivered in 1978. The type has seen combat with the U.S. Army in Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War, and Somalia, and now is supporting peacekeeping operations in the Balkans.

Including commercial S-70 and shipborne Sea Hawk variants, Black Hawks also serve 25 export customers, among them Australia, Israel, Spain, Greece, Taiwan and the Peoples Republic of China.

By Paul Richfield