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Military


Sikorsky S-70 Black Hawk - Sales

ProductionA/Cpending
USA USAF S-70/HH/MH-60G/U 100
USA Army S-70/EH/HH/MH/UH-60 2,165 97+29
USA USN S-70/EH/HH/MH/UH-60 495 85+70
USA DOD S-70 260
Japan AF S-70/UH-60J 35 40
Japan Ground S-70/UH-60JA 36 1
Japan Maritime S-70/SH/UH-60J/K 1131+4
TurkeyArmy T-70103
SalesA/Cpending
Australia Army S-70/UH-60A 34
Australia Navy S-70/MH-60R 2020
Austria AF S-70/UH-60M 9 3
Bahrain AF S-70/UH-60M 8
Brazil AF S-70/UH-60L/M 16 3
Brazil Army S-70 3
Brazil Navy S-70 4 4
Brunei AF S-70/i 12 4
China PLA S-70 20
Denmark AF S-70/MH-60R 9
Colombia AF S-70/AH/MH/UH-60L 24
Colombia Army S-70/i/UH-60L 59
Denmark AF S-70/MH-60R 9
Egypt AF S-70/UH-60M 2 4
Greece Navy S-70 11
Israel AF S-70/UH-60A 48
Jordan AF S-70/UH-60L 10
Mexico AF S-70/UH-60M 4 31
Mexico Navy S-70/UH-60M 3 4
Saudi Arabia AF S-70/UH-60L 2
Saudi Arabia Army S-70/UH-60L/M 43 48
Saudi Arabia SANGS-70/UH-60M 204
Singapore AF S-70 6 2
ROK AF S-70/HH/UH-60P 29
ROK Army S-70/UH-60L/P 68
ROK Navy S-70/UH-60P 8
Spain Navy S-70/SH-60B 10
Sweden S-70/UH-60M 15
Taiwan AF S-70/UH-60A 13
Taiwan Army S-70/UH-60M 456
Taiwan Navy S-70 18
Thailand Army S-70/UH-60L/M 10 2
Thailand Navy S-70/MH-60S 8
UK RAF S-70/UH-60M 12
UAE AF S-70/UH-60L/M 59

Sikorsky is one of the world’s largest helicopter companies. Sikorsky manufactures military and commercial helicopters and also provides aftermarket helicopter and aircraft parts and services. Current major production programs at Sikorsky include the UH-60M Black Hawk medium-transport helicopters and HH-60M Medevac helicopters for the US and foreign governments, the S-70 Black Hawk for foreign governments, the MH-60S and MH-60R helicopters for the US Navy, the International Naval Hawk for multiple naval missions, and the S-76 and S-92 helicopters for commercial operations. The UH-60M helicopter is the latest and most modern in a series of Black Hawk variants that Sikorsky has been delivering to the US Army since 1978. In July 2012, the US Government and Sikorsky signed a five-year multi-service contract for approximately 650 H-60 helicopters. Actual production quantities will be determined year-by-year over the life of the program based on funding allocations set by Congress and the US Department of Defense acquisition priorities, as well as the US Foreign Military Sales program.

The US Army manages sales of an entire array of equipment to allies, including things the Army uses, such as the Black Hawk and the Apache, "one of our biggest sellers," Young said, as well as "non-standard" equipment that the Army never used, or that is no longer in use. The UH-1 Iroquois, or "Huey" is considered non-standard now. But it's not just equipment sales. There are also training and maintenance packages that come with the sales. And the benefits aren't just to the buyer, they go all around. With FMS, the buyer gets new equipment and guidance, the manufacturer gets increased sales, and the United States strengthens its military-to-military ties with the new owner through training opportunities and increased equipment interoperability.

UH-60M Black Hawk
countrydate A/C $ MCase #
Mexico 8/8/2014 5 137.9 MX-B-UEU
Mexico 7/22/2014 18 462.2 MX-B-UES
Thailand 9/25/2012 1 31.0 TH-B-UAD
Thailand 12/26/2011 2 62.3 TH-B-UAE
Saudi Arabia 11/30/2011 24 638.3 SI-B-WXP
Sweden 1/14/2011 15 275.7 SW-B-WAD
Taiwan 11/22/2010 60 1717.7 TW-B-YZC
Jordan 9/1/2010 2 26.3 JO-B-WAT
Mexico 8/3/2010 3 83.9 MX-B-UEJ
UAE 12/12/2007 40 825.0 AE-B-ZUE
Bahrain 9/18/2007 9 151.9 BA-B-UIR
There's financial benefit to FMS as well, and not just to the manufacturer of the equipment. One of the other big reasons from an economic point of view for us to continue to sell equipment to foreign nations is that it allows us to keep our production lines open. FMS keeping the industrial base hot all the time. Keeping an aircraft's production line "hot" means that the production line, and the expansive network of sub-contractors and sub-sub-contractors that supply that production line with parts, is always moving, always producing a new airframe. When there are no more buyers for the aircraft, that manufacturing system can't stay open long. It's expensive to keep laborers employed and systems in place to produce an aircraft that nobody wants to buy any more. And once that system shuts down, it's difficult to start it back up. It costs a lot of money to rehire, retool lines to start production up. By working with foreign countries, we can understand what they are going to need and we plug that in to the demand to keep that production line open.

The Security Assistance Training Management Organization, or SATMO, manages teams that train FMS buyers on the new equipment they have purchased. SATMO is working now in more than 70 nations. Teams include one in Egypt that specializes in the Chinook and the Apache, as well as another team in Bahrain that specializes in Black Hawks.

When it comes down to the nitty gritty of a US-friendly purchase - solidifying working relationships with foreign governments, negotiating pricing and contracts, obtaining equipment, working the details of training and system support, delivering equipment on time and providing technical and maintenance support after the acquisition - the employees of the Aviation and Missile Command's Security Assistance Management Directorate must be "jacks of all trades" to turn a foreign military sale into reality.

The BLACK HAWK helicopter was first introduced in Colombia in 1987 when the Air Force purchased its first few aircraft from the United States Government through the Foreign Military Sales system. The Colombian Army followed with its own first purchase of BLACK HAWK helicopters in 1997, and the National Police procured its first six aircraft in 1999. Outside the United States, Colombia operates the world’s fourth largest BLACK HAWK helicopter fleet and the largest procured to date via the U.S. Government’s Foreign Military Sales channel. Turkey, Japan and Korea have larger BLACK HAWK fleets resulting from either direct purchase from Sikorsky or to Sikorsky-licensed domestic production.

By 2015 Lockheed officials said they were optimistic about foreign sales prospects for CH-53K heavy lift helicopters and H-60 Black Hawk helicopters built by its new Sikorsky unit, which would help offset the slump in commercial orders. Sharp declines in oil revenues had resulted in larger than expected declines in Sikorsky's commercial helicopter revenues. Demand for Sikorsky’s two main civilian models — the S-76D, which can lift up to 5,400kg and the S-92, which can lift 12,000kg — has traditionally depended heavily on offshore oil and gas customers. AgustaWestland’s AW189, Airbus’s EC175 and the 525 from Textron’s Bell Helicopter all fit into the so-called “super-medium” gap between Sikorsky’s two models.



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