UH-60V Black Hawk
UH-60 Black Hawk is the world’s premier utility aircraft and the Army's largest helicopter fleet. The Black Hawk is vital in supporting lift and medical evacuation missions in the current and future force operational plans. It is critical to the homeland defense mission and a key component of the Army National Guard’s forest fire, tornado, hurricane, and earthquake relief missions.
The UH-60V, a recapitalized UH-60L model, has a modern digital cockpit resulting in a similar functionality and capability as the UH-60M. By re-capitalizing the current legacy fleet, the Army will be able to deliver the modernized UH-60V for significantly less than the cost of a new aircraft. The Army plans to convert 760 UH-60L aircraft to the UH-60V configuration and they will remain part of the enduring Utility Helicopter fleet well into the future. The UH-60V upgrades will help to reduce life cycle costs while digitizing the last analog aircraft in the operational fleet.
The UH-60V features a digital cockpit that updates the legacy analog gauges. This achieves a similar pilot vehicle interface to the UH-60M, meets Global Air Traffic Management requirements, and addresses obsolescence issues. By meeting GATM standards, the UH-60V can file instrument flight plans and deploy anywhere GATM standards are enforced. GATM is in use in Europe The open architecture-based cockpit design replaces analog gauges with digital multi-functional displays and enhances situational awareness for aviation Warfighters. The UH-60V features one of the Army's most advanced avionics solutions.
The updated cockpit increases a pilot’s situational awareness while reducing the work load, resulting in a more capable and safer aviation platform. The UH-60V is the first army aircraft to implement an open system architecture, a critical element of the Future Vertical Lift Ecosystem. Additionally, providing a nearly identical pilot-vehicle interface to the UH-60M enables common training and operational environment which reduces training costs.
The basic mission configuration includes a crew of four (pilot, copilot, crew chief, and gunner), integral (internal) mission fuel, avionics, aircraft survivability equipment, armor protection, two M240 machine guns and ammunition, and other mission-related equipment. The unit equipped with the UH-60V BLACK HAWK will employ the aircraft to conduct air assault, air movement, aerial command and control (C2), and aerial medical evacuation missions. Garrison units equipped with the UH-60V will execute garrison support missions, training and training support, and test support. The UH-60V can be employed individually, in multi-ship formations, or as a company depending on requirements.
The Corpus Christi Army Depot at Corpus Christi, Texas, will induct and refurbish existing UH-60L aircraft before applying the engineering changes that convert the UH-60L into the UH-60V configuration. Rather than turning to industry for the modernization work, Corpus Christi Army Depot was selected because of its established capabilities. The depot’s workforce is already well-versed in providing what is known as the L-to-L recap – which takes the aging UH-60 Lima models through a program that refreshes their technology and systems, extending the life of the aircraft.
Redstone Defense Systems at Huntsville, Alabama, conducts design and integration of the UH-60V. They are the prime contractor under the Prototype Integration Facility, at the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center.
Northrop Grumman in Woodland Hills, California, is leading the development and integration of flight control software. Northrop Grumman provides the Integrated Avionics Suite for the UH-60V. This transformational approach to avionics modernizes the U.S. Army’s UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters with a glass cockpit, including an integrated computational system, visual display system and Control Display Units. This replaces the analog gauges in UH-60L helicopters with an integrated system that provides one of the most advanced avionics systems in the U.S. Army. This solution extends the life and mission capabilities of the UH-60 platform. Additional benefits of Northrop Grumman’s open and scalable, fully integrated mission equipment package include enhanced pilot situational awareness and mission safety, decreased workload and life cycle cost, and a common training environment.
The OpenLift modular open systems architecture (MOSA) enhances the way new capabilities are acquired and delivered to the warfighter. With open architecture systems, operators are free to work with multiple developers to upgrade capabilities. By breaking vendor lock, these systems drive competition and enable more frequent upgrades that can greatly extend and expand an aircraft’s mission set.
The Program Executive Office Aviation’s Utility Helicopters Project Office (UHPO) collaborated with the EAATS, National Guard Bureau, Directorate of Evaluations and Standardization, Army Capabilities Manager-Lift, Directorate of Training and Doctrine, and the Army Test and Evaluation Command to develop a holistic Training Support Package that will enable units to conduct local training to qualify aviators to fly the UH-60V.
First flight of the prototype aircraft occurred 19 January 2017. The Program Executive Office Aviation's Utility Helicopter Project Office on 26 January 2017 successfully completed the initial test flight of its Engineering Development Model UH-60V Black Hawk helicopter. The test flight lasted a little more than an hour and included a variety of exercises including take off, hover, track and balance and a brief local area flight before returning to the airfield. The completion of the flight on this date set more than two years ago was a collaborative effort among several organizations within the military and industry including the U.S. Army's Aviation and Missile Research and Development Center (AMRDEC), Research, Develop and Engineering Command (RDECOM), Northrop Grumman, and Redstone Defense Systems. The successful flight of the UH-60V working prototype represented a significant milestone in the UH-60V program and moved one step closer to getting an enhanced, modern air capability to the operational force.
The Army conducted airworthiness and flight characteristics testing at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, throughout 2018. As of September 2018, developmental testing included 256 productive flight hours and 240 ground test hours in day, night, and visual meteorological conditions on engineering release software versions up to and including 4.11. The program continued software testing in a Systems Integration Laboratory (SIL) and flight testing of software version 4.12.
The Army conducted a 45-hour Limited User Test (LUT) in July 2018 with operational pilots and aircrews from the 82nd Airborne Division, experimental test pilots, and two Engineering Design Model UH-60V aircraft. Aircrews completed six air assault, air movement, and external load missions, during day, night, and night vision goggle flight modes, in hot and humid conditions, in the vicinity of Redstone Arsenal. Aircrews flew the aircraft in contour and nap-of-the-earth mission profiles over Redstone Arsenal and local terrain. The Army simulated threat missile launches during some of the missions.
UH-60V completed IOT&E I in September 2019 at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington. The UH-60V is as survivable as the UH-60L against ballistic, infrared, and laser threats. IOT&E I was not adequate due to the software, hardware, and production process not being production representative. The EDM aircraft included all UH-60V modifications, but were not produced at the Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas, production facility using the final production process. Two of the aircraft did not have production-representative wiring harnesses that may have contributed to some reliability failures.
The UH-60V was less reliable than fielded UH-60L and UH-60M helicopters during IOT&E I. The UH-60V did not meet its reliability requirements during the 334.5-flight-hour operational test. The UH-60V cockpit software did not function correctly throughout IOT&E I. Software problems distracted pilots during mission execution and forced aircrews to focus inside the aircraft. The UH-60V experienced frequent false radar warnings throughout IOT&E I. s. Several factors contributed to the high false return rate, some may be attributed to the aircraft and some to the test environment’s ambient electromagnetic activity (such as cell towers). The UH-60V is vulnerable to insider and nearsider cybersecurity attacks. The system has not been assessed from an outsider cybersecurity threat and for the security of the supply chain.
The UHPO began fielding the first Army National Guard unit with UH-60V Black Hawk helicopters 27 July 2021. The UHPO delivered five UH-60Vs to the Pennsylvania Army National Guard Eastern ARNG Aviation Training Site (EAATS) at Fort Indiantown Gap, which becomes the first unit equipped and organically assigned with the aircraft. The sixth and final aircraft arrived 31 July 2021.
“The UH-60V marks the entry into service of the Army’s first helicopter with a modular, open architecture systems design,” said Lt. Col. Dan Thetford, Product Manager for the UH-60V helicopter. “It’s been a collaborative effort among several military organizations and industry to develop and deliver this enhanced capability for the Active Army and Army National Guard, and achieving the First Unit Equipped milestone with EAATS on schedule and within budget is the culmination of those efforts.”
The first tactical unit to be equipped with the UH-60V will be the 1-106th Aviation Regiment, was scheduled to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2022. Procurement of UH-60V Black Hawks would continue through 2035 (so Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) and UH-60Vs would be concurrently procured for six years, 2030 to 2035).
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