Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. subsidiary, Stratford, Connecticut, was awarded a $30,959,224 modification (P00181) to contract W58RGZ-17-C-0009 for procurement of nine U.S. Army UH-60M and 15 U.S. Army HH-60M aircraft. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2023. Lockheed acquired Sikorsky from United Technologies Corp. in late 2015 in a sale estimated at nearly $9 billion. The contractor also noted this will be the ninth multi-year contract for H-60s between Sikorsky and the U.S. government. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement, U.S. Army funds in the amount of $30,959,224 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
UH-60M is the latest variant in the Black Hawk family of helicopters. UH-60 Black Hawk is a multi-mission helicopter developed by Sikorsky that has been operational in the US Army since 1978. The export version of the UH-60 Black Hawk is designated as S-70A. The fly-by-wire glass cockpit has a digitised 1553 bus-based avionics suite with four Rockwell Collins multi-function displays, four-axis fully-coupled autopilot, two Canadian Marconi (CMC) electronic flight management systems, dual Honeywell embedded GPS inertial (EGI) navigation system, digital moving map and Goodrich integrated vehicle health management system (IHVMS) and new General Electric T700-GE-701D engine with full authority digital electronic control.
HH-60M is a medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) version of the UH-60M Black Hawk multi-mission helicopter. Built by Sikorsky Aircraft for the US Army, the helicopter is designed to evacuate wounded troops from the battlefield. The HH-60M helicopter is integrated with a medical evacuation mission equipment package (MEP) kit. The helicopter can be reconfigured to carry out missions including personnel transport, search and rescue, aerial reconnaissance, cargo transport, and wild fire suppression. The built-in medical interior is installed with an integrated electronically-controlled litter system to carry about 6 patients. This litter system can be modified to provide ambulatory seating. The helicopter also houses an integrated oxygen-generating system for onboard patient care.
More than 2,000 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter variants are in service with the US, and more than 600 have been exported. Variants of the Black Hawk are operational or have been ordered by 29 international customers, namely the Argentine Air Force, Royal Australian Army, Bahrain, Brazil, Brunei, Chile, Colombian Air Force, Egypt, Greece, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan Self Defence Force, Jordan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, People’s Republic of China, Royal Saudi Land Forces Army Aviation Command, the Turkish Jandarma, Spain, The Philippine Air Force, Taiwan, Thailand, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, and Tunisia. Licensed production of Black Hawk helicopters is also carried out in Japan and the Republic of Korea.
