Sikorsky delivered the 1,000th H-60M Black Hawk helicopter to the US Army in a ceremony held in Stratford, Connecticut recently. Speakers at the event included Brigadier General Robert L. Marion, Program Executive Officer, US Army Program Executive Office for Aviation; Colonel William ‘Billy’ Jackson, Project Manager, Utility Helicopters, US Army Program Executive Office; Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy; US Senators for Connecticut Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy; US Representative for Connecticut’s 3rd Congressional District, Rosa DeLauro; and Sikorsky President Dan Schultz.

Brigadier General Robert L. Marion said, “The UH-60 is often referred to as the workhorse of Army Aviation and as such your efforts here, past, present, and future are critical to the continued defence of our nation. The rollout of the 1,000th UH-60M Black Hawk marks an important outcome of our aviation modernisation plan, and these aircraft will transform our aviation fleet to a more flexible, capable, and ready team.”

Sikorsky delivered the first UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter in 2007 and the first HH-60M MEDEVAC helicopter in 2008. Today’s ceremony marked the delivery of the 792nd UH-60M and the 208th HH-60M helicopters.

The ‘Mike’ model helicopters represent the Army’s third standard baseline H-60 Black Hawk aircraft version in the 38-year production history of the programme. The newest models feature more powerful engines than older variants, a new airframe, avionics and propulsion system, improved rotor blades, a digital cockpit, and an autopilot among other modern enhancements.