The Army’s fleet of UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters will be able to launch drones while in flight next year, thanks to a modernization contract with manufacturer Sikorsky announced Wednesday.
The $43 million deal will include software and hardware upgrades that will allow Army air crews to simultaneously operate drones, part of a larger push toward so-called “launched effects,” one of the cornerstones of the Army Transformation Initiative.
“Sikorsky is ready to implement new technologies that will strengthen the combat-proven Black Hawk helicopter and give U.S. Army soldiers greater advantage in areas like the Indo-Pacific,” said Hamid Salim, Sikorsky’s vice president of Army and Air Force Systems, said in a release.
The contract also includes upgrades to the airframe itself.
“With a more powerful engine, airframe enhancements and a main fuel upgrade, the aircraft will carry more payload at greater range, and future upgrades to flight controls to include autonomy and AI features that will assist pilots in tough conditions increasing mission safety and effectiveness,” according to the release.
While launched effects are a key part of the Army’s modernization efforts, it’s an open question how big of a role the Black Hawk will play in the service’s vertical-lift capabilities, and for how long.
The service in 2022 selected Bell’s V-280 tiltrotor to cover long-range assault missions currently done by the Black Hawk, while the service’s Future Vertical Lift program continues to work on a new airframe to cover that mission.
The Army’s announcement in May that it would pull back on some of its major programs raised concern in Congress—particularly from Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., whose district includes the Sikorsky plant—that the Black Hawk could be on the chopping block.
“So I think that there’s other things that are going to change on the battlefield,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said during congressional testimony in May. “I see Black Hawks are going to be with us for a while, but I do think we’re going to have to adapt what we’re doing. There just may be less Black Hawks.”
The Army’s contract to buy more of the helicopters expires next year.
“I’m not aware that we’re making any adjustment to the Black Hawk contract,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George said during that hearing. “What I was basically describing to you is how I see the battlefield evolving, and how I would see us being able to do things … It’s hard to predict, but we know we have autonomous systems that can do that.”
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