Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company has received a four-year contract from the Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira) to provide logistics support for the service’s 16 UH-60L Black Hawk utility helicopters. The contract will improve fleet sustainment resulting from local storage of commonly required spare parts, assistance from a regional Sikorsky field service technician, and direct technical support from Sikorsky Engineering.
Brazil received four UH-60L helicopters in 1997, for the Brazilian Army peacekeeping forces. The Brazilian Air Force acquired its 16 Black Hawk aircraft via Foreign Military Sales between 2006 and 2013. It received six UH-60Ls configured for special forces, and search and rescue uses in 2008. It ordered ten more UH-60Ls in 2009; deliveries began in March 2011. The Air Force contract is modeled after a multi-year logistics support agreement between Sikorsky and the Brazilian Army. In 2019, after previous agreements with the Army, the flight availability rate of the four Army S-70A (UH-60L equivalent) Black Hawk aircraft reached a 100 percent readiness.
We thank the Brazilian Air Force for selecting Sikorsky to provide the highest level of logistics support for its Black Hawk helicopter fleet,” said Felipe Benvegnu, director of Sikorsky sustainment business development. “Local storage of spare parts will eliminate long lead times for material that would keep an aircraft on the ground. Close collaboration with Sikorsky engineers, whether virtual or in person, also will help the Air Force maintainers improve the readiness rates of these utility aircraft for important missions, such as search and rescue.”
The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft (a Lockheed Martin company). The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 design for the United States Army’s Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) competition in 1972. Named after the Native American war leader Black Hawk, the UH-60A entered service with the U.S. Army in 1979, to replace the Bell UH-1 Iroquois as the Army’s tactical transport helicopter.
