Army orders new UH-60M and HH-60M Black Hawk helicopters for cargo, troop carrying, and medical evacuation.
REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – U.S. Army aviation experts are ordering late-model UH-60M and HH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters for missions like armed reconnaissance and troop transport, medical evacuations, and search and rescue.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., announced a $507 million order Wednesday to Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company in Stratford, Conn., to provide the Army with UH-60M and HH-60M helicopters.
The twin-engine UH-60M Black Hawk, the newest model of the Black Hawk family, can serve in extreme conditions, and is designed to replace the older UH-60A Black Hawk. It is the centerpiece of the Army's long-term effort to modernize the service's medium-lift helicopter fleet. Sikorsky has manufactured the Army Black Hawk since 1978.
The HH-60M Black Hawk, meanwhile, is the medical evacuation configuration of the MH-60M Black Hawk. It is a specialized multi-mission helicopter that can support medical, personnel or cargo transport missions. The aircraft is equipped with state-of-the-art medical systems to provide critical care for as many as six patients.
Medical systems include a patient litter system, an on-board oxygen generation system, medical suction, patient monitors and high intensity night-vision-compatible lighting. The aircraft also is equipped with advanced avionics and special mission systems to assist the crew in locating and rescuing injured personnel. Specialized equipment includes a forward looking infrared (FLIR) system and an external rescue hoist.
Compared to earlier models of the Black Hawk, the UH-60M incorporates upgraded T700-GE-701D engines, improved rotor blades, and modern electronic instrumentation, flight controls and aircraft navigation control.
The UH-60M provides additional payload and range, advanced digital avionics, better handling qualities and situational awareness, active vibration control, improved survivability, and improved producibility. The UH-60M can fly as fast as 151 knots at altitudes to 15,180 feet to distances as far as 276 nautical miles between refuelings.
The UH-60M's new composite spar wide-chord blade provides 500 pounds more lift than the UH-60L blade. The General Electric T700-GE- 701D engine will add more horsepower and allow additional lift during external sling load operations.
The UH-60M cockpit includes multi-function displays; flight management systems; modern flight control computers with fully coupled autopilot; an integrated vehicle health management system with flight data and cockpit voice recorder; inertial navigation systems with embedded global positioning systems; improved data modem; and improved heads-up displays. The narrower cockpit instrument panel will also significantly improve chin window visibility.
Sikorsky and the Army have had the UH-60M in full-rate production since late 2007, and by early 2009 the company had delivered it first 100 UH-60M rotorcraft to the Army.
On this contract Sikorsky will do the work in Stratford, Conn., and should be finished by June 2022. For more information contact Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, online at www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/capabilities/sikorsky.html, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa.
