US Army Contracting Command will mobilise $1.2bn in Foreign Military Sales funds from five partner nations to finance the production of 74 UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters, a Sikorsky spokesperson confirmed.
The US will deliver these units to the customers as part of bilateral framework agreements made in recent years with the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. Australia, Brazil, Greece, Sweden and Thailand have each ordered 40, 12, 35, 12 and 20 units respectively over the last several years.
As part of the orders, these global Black Hawk users are scheduled to induct this latest round of platforms after work is completed at the tail-end of 2027.
Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, will manufacture the platforms at its facility in Stratford, Connecticut. In 2024, the US government awarded the rotorcraft specialist contracts to manufacture and deliver a total of 84 Black Hawks to countries in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and South America. Other recent customers include Croatia, Jordan and Romania among others.
The Black Hawk family of helicopters have a long-standing history, supporting combat missions in Grenada, Panama, the liberation of Kuwait, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and numerous humanitarian and rescue missions including operations in Bosnia.
Even the People’s Republic of China procured a civilian S-70 variant in the 1980s, after which exports to the country were prohibited after the Tianamen Square massacre.
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By GlobalData
A Black Hawk ecosystem
“We value our allies’ continued trust in the Black Hawk, which will continue to support ongoing modernisation efforts, increase interoperability and contribute to critical missions across the globe,” a Sikorsky spokesperson told Army Technology.
Selecting Black Hawk provides a simpler global supply chain for spares, maintenance and interoperability. Notwithstanding the dispersed production facilities in Japan and South Korea that would support operations in a geopolitical hotbed like the Indo-Pacific.
Moreover, Europe stands to benefit with a Black Hawk maintenance centre in Romania which opened in January 2024. “This achievement places Romania at the head of the pack,” commented Ambassador Kathleen Kavalec at the time. The centre is the first Black Hawk-certified hub for maintenance, repair and overhaul established in Europe.
This is a timely circumstance given the continent’s war footing in response to Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. A common utility rotorcraft would prove useful should Nato enter the war with Russia.
“In addition, we are looking forward to continuing our strong partnership with the US Army on a Black Hawk multi-year XI contract, which is critical to continuous delivery of this iconic aircraft to the Army and Foreign Miitary Sales customers.”
Sikorsky must think at the national level, too
Although the supplier has cultivated a deep-seated user ecosystem, the company was unable to continue its tender for the UK’s New Medium Helicopter programme in October 2024.
A cash-strapped Britain is left with a single tender in Leonardo’s AW149 medium-lift helicopter as it is the only tender that offers to manufacture at least 60% of platforms domestically.
A Sikorsky spokesperson noted that “we could not meet [the UK’s] minimum requirements in today’s market conditions” despite contributing to the national economy for more than 85 years.
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