The US Army says efforts to reduce the average age of its Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks may be undermined unless more money is found to fund the UH-60M remanufacturing programme due to begin in fiscal year 2004.
Keith Roberson, US Army utility helicopter deputy project manager, says the goal of the UH-60M upgrade is to cut the age of the 1,600 helicopters to a half-life of 10 years by FY15. Average age of the UH-60As making up most of the Black Hawk fleet is 18 years, with over 22% more than 20 years old.
The army plans to remanufacture and upgrade 1,217 UH-60A/Ls, starting with 10 in FY04. This is planned to increase to 15 in FY05 and 36 the following year before reaching a full rate of 90 UH-60Ms a year by FY09. "We're struggling to fund these numbers," says Roberson, adding there is only money for around half the helicopters.
The army is also preparing to place the first low-rate initial production (LRIP) contract for seven upgraded Boeing CH-47F Chinooks. They will enter remanufacturing early next year and be redelivered in October 2004. The army is seeking the option of a second LRIP batch of 17 machines within the same contract.
The Israeli air force has equipped its UH-60As with the Elta EL/M-2160 (V)2 missile approach warning system to aid survivability in a missile-saturated environment. The system has won export customers, but only Sri Lanka has been named. The heart of the system is a Doppler radar that provides time to assess impact- and threat-direction information. The system can feature up to six antennas, depending on platform and coverage.
Source: Flight International
