Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk

Sikorsky · United States · first flew 1974 · helicopter

The Black Hawk is the US Army's standard twin-engine utility helicopter, a low, muscular machine recognised by its canted tail rotor and four-blade head.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — WingsHigh-mounted, rotary
E — Engines2 × turboshaft, fuselage-mounted
F — FuselageLow, flat fuselage with a canted tail rotor
T — TailConventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Spot the low slung fuselage, the distinctive canted tail rotor and the four-blade main rotor. It sits lower and flatter than a Merlin and has two engines rather than three.

Specifications

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

Sikorsky's S-70 first flew in 1974 and won the US Army's UTTAS contest, entering service in 1979 to replace the Huey. It has since spawned naval, special-forces, medevac and export versions in vast numbers.

Variants

Army UH-60A/L/M utility versions, the navalised SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk, the HH-60 combat rescue type and numerous export S-70 models make up the family.

Where you'll see it

Black Hawks are rare in UK skies, appearing mainly when US forces deploy or transit; the British military instead relies on Merlin, Chinook and Wildcat for comparable roles.

In depth

The Black Hawk's origins lie in one of the US Army's most systematic procurement programmes. Following the loss of 4,000 UH-1 Hueys in Vietnam — many shot down in part because the Huey's layout put the tail boom where ground fire was most likely to strike it — the Army set precise survivability requirements. The UTTAS (Utility Tactical Transport Aircraft System) specification of 1972 demanded that the new helicopter survive a crash landing at 38 feet per second vertical velocity and that the rotor system tolerate 23 mm hits without immediate failure. It also had to fit inside a C-130 fuselage, a geometric constraint that drove several key design decisions: the rotor blades needed to fold, the tail had to hinge, and the main gearbox had to be low enough to allow the aircraft to crouch.

Sikorsky's entry, the S-70, answered those constraints with a four-blade, titanium and composite rotor system and a fenestron-style tail rotor tilted at twenty degrees from vertical. That canted tail rotor is the Black Hawk's most diagnostic field feature: it provides not just anti-torque but a small component of lateral lift, reducing the power needed from the main rotor and giving the aircraft a slightly flatter hover attitude. The crashworthy main gear legs absorb vertical energy by progressive collapse, and the energy-absorbing seats are designed to keep occupants alive at sink rates that would be fatal in a Huey.

The Black Hawk's combat debut came during Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada (1983), where 82nd Airborne helicopters drew fire in an environment nobody expected to be contested. The deeper test came in Mogadishu on 3–4 October 1993 — Operation Gothic Serpent, the Battle of Mogadishu. Two MH-60L Black Hawks from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment ('Night Stalkers') were shot down by RPG fire in the city. Super Six One (piloted by CWO Cliff Wolcott) fell first, at 1542 local time; Super Six Four followed minutes later. The subsequent rescue effort lasted seventeen hours, cost eighteen American lives, and resulted in the posthumous award of two Medals of Honor — the first since Vietnam. The event reshaped US policy on urban CSAR and drove upgrades to the Black Hawk's self-protection suite including the improved HIRSS (Hover Infrared Suppressor System) and radar-warning receivers.

The SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk family extended the design to naval operations, replacing the SH-3 Sea King in carrier battle group anti-submarine roles. The Seahawk added folding rotor blades, a rescue hoist, sonobuoy dispensers, and a torpedo pylon, all with the same core airframe. The MH-60R 'Romeo' that emerged from the multi-year upgrade programme is now the US Navy's primary shipboard helicopter for anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare and search-and-rescue, flying from every class of surface combatant down to destroyers.

The Black Hawk's primary rivals in the utility helicopter category are the NH Industries NH90 (the European consortium answer to the same requirement bracket), the NHI-built Merlin HM2 in British naval service, and — at the lighter end — the Bell 412EP. The NH90 is slightly smaller than the Black Hawk in cabin terms but heavier in empty weight; it is the aircraft that replaced the Black Hawk in several NATO air forces that had evaluated both. The original Huey which the Black Hawk replaced is still flying in numbers globally, itself demonstrating the longevity of a good baseline design.

For UK spotters, genuine Black Hawks appear on exercise at RIAT Fairford, at Joint Warrior exercises off Scotland, and occasionally at US air bases in East Anglia when US special-operations units rotate through. The Army Air Corps does not fly the type, so the Black Hawk is always an American visitor or a civilian-registered example. A small number of civilian-registered UH-60s and S-70s have been used for film production in the UK. A field-identification point worth committing to memory: the four rotor blades of the Black Hawk produce a distinctive 'wop-wop-wop-wop' four-beat sound at a lower frequency than the three-blade Bell 412's sharper 'thrap-thrap-thrap'. The canted tail rotor also makes the aircraft visibly lean slightly left at the tail when hovering — a posture no other common utility helicopter shares.

Related aircraft

AircraftIQ — the aircraft field guide: 4,893 recognition guides, live overhead identification, works offline.