Rotorcraft manufacturer Sikorsky and the US Army are continuing to negotiate a deal that would see production of Sikorsky’s iconic UH-60 Black Hawk extended to 2032.
Speaking at the annual Association of the US Army conference in Washington, DC on 14 October, Sikorsky said it is working with the Pentagon on terms for the company’s 11th multi-year Black Hawk procurement contract, which will see new aircraft continue to roll off the production line at Stratford, Connecticut for another five years.
“It’s a bright future for Black Hawk,” says Jay Macklin, Sikorsky’s director of strategy for army and air force programmes.
The current UH-60 production contract, officially known Multi-Year Contract 10, covers deliveries of new aircraft through 2026. When that $2.27 billion agreement was unveiled in 2022, it covered 255 aircraft for the USA and overseas customers.
At the time, Multi-Year 10 was expected to be the US Army’s final UH-60 procurement contract, as the service moved toward fielding the new Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft.
Sikorsky’s coaxial Defiant X lost that contract to rival Bell’s V-280 tiltrotor, raising concerns about the long-term viability of Sikorsky without new Black Hawk orders from the Pentagon.
However, less than two years later, the army announced an abrupt reversal to its aviation modernisation strategy, cancelling the new-development Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) scout replacement and committing to acquiring both more Black Hawks from Sikorsky and Boeing’s CH-47 Block II Chinook heavy-lift type – offering a lift to both companies.
In addition to extra orders from the USA, Macklin says Sikorsky sees significant overseas interest in the UH-60, including from Australia, Austria, Croatia, Greece and Jordan.
Production and deliveries of other H-60 derivatives, including the MH-60R Seahawk and HH-60W Jolly Green II combat search and rescue platforms, are also ongoing. In 2023, Sikorsky logged delivery of the 5,000th Black Hawk.
Macklin cites the expansion of the Multi-Year 10 production contract to 272 aircraft as evidence for the strength of international demand.
“We’re very excited about the international demand that continues to present itself,” he says. “We expect significant foreign military sales in Multi-Year 11 as well.”
Separately, Sikorsky is engaged in an effort to modernise existing UH-60 examples, including by developing and testing autonomous flight technology and integration of the new GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engine.
The new powerplant is expected to have 50% more power than the current 2,000shp (1,490kW-rated) GE T700 engines, while reducing fuel consumption by some 25%.
Macklin says Sikorsky is also importing technical advancements from its defunct Raider X FARA design into the Black Hawk, including structural enhancements that will allow the aircraft to carry the new “launched effects” being developed by the army.
These autonomous systems are envisioned as expendable unmanned aerial vehicles capable of providing reconnaissance, communications support, electronic warfare and lethal strike capabilities to support aviators and ground troops. Multiple demonstrations of the concept have already been completed in recent years.
Sikorsky argues such enhancements will keep Black Hawks flying and relevant until 2070 – some 90 years after the type was introduced.
The company earlier this year celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first UH-60 prototype flight.
