Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk

UH-60 Black Hawk
A U.S. Army UH-60M Black Hawk landing, 2019
General information
Type	Utility helicopter
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Sikorsky Aircraft
Status	In service
Primary users	United States Army Republic of Korea Armed Forces Japan Self-Defense Forces Colombian Armed Forces
Number built	5,000 by January 2023[1]
History
Manufactured	1974–present
Introduction date	1979
First flight	17 October 1974
Variants	SH-60 Seahawk HH-60 Pave Hawk MH-60 Jayhawk S-70 (civilian) Mitsubishi H-60
Notes
Unit price $11.3m (2014)[2]

The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift military utility helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted a design for the United States Army's Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System (UTTAS) competition in 1972. The Army designated the prototype as the YUH-60A and selected the Black Hawk as the winner of the program in 1976, after a fly-off competition with the Boeing Vertol YUH-61.

Named after the Native American war leader Black Hawk, the UH-60A entered service with the U.S. Army in 1979, to replace the Bell UH-1 Iroquois as the Army's tactical transport helicopter. This was followed by the fielding of electronic warfare and special operations variants of the Black Hawk. Improved UH-60L and UH-60M utility variants have also been developed.

Major variants include the Navy's SH-60 Seahawk, the Air Force's HH-60 Pave Hawk, the Coast Guard's MH-60 Jayhawk and the civilian S-70. In addition to use by U.S. armed forces, the UH-60 family has been exported to several nations and produced under contract in Japan as the Mitsubishi H-60.