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2019-11-24

Black Hawk:A Reliable Partner

one of the key attractions on display at the show this year is Sikorsky’s Armed UH-60M latest generation Black Hawk. The armed kit was developed with AMMROC who contracted Sikorsky to customise the aircraft according to the requirement. The kit was in development for six years and it has been a year since the customer started receiving it.

By Deepa Narwani

Joe Palumbo, Director, International Military Programs, Sikorsky told Nation Shield: “The configuration on display is a highly capable Armed Black Hawk with a variety of different weapon systems. We are providing a fully integrated system, which meant taking systems such as inertial navigation, airspeed, and situational awareness, and putting it into a simple video with information. In this case, it provides pilots all the information they need right on their helmet as well as on their displays inside the cockpit and on the Flight Management System, so they know exactly how many weapons they have, etc. This gives pilots the accuracy they need in order to be successful and the situational awareness facilitates their workload.”

The Armed Black Hawk displayed is being used for multiple different purposes such as for the army, troop transport, cargo, medevac and fire-fighting, among others.

“The key here is affordability,” said Palumbo. “By having an aircraft that is multi-purpose, customers can go from one configuration to the other easily. Furthermore, since it flies in a very challenging environment there have been updates made to facilitate this. For instance, the Engine-inlet Barrier Filters have been designed for tough temperatures. The aircraft meets all the military-standard requirements. Also, the Black Hawk on display has a 200-gallon internal tank along with the main tank, which provides another hour of flight.”

Faisal Al Heera, Business Development Director, AMMROC added: “We are very proud to be in a partnership with Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky. We have accomplished an amazing project called the Armed Black Hawk, which basically transforms a utility aircraft into an attack aircraft through the customer’s requirement.

“AMMROC’s new facility will be supporting the Black Hawk and the LRU (Line Replacing Unit). It will offer assistance for 49 items from the Black Hawk, one of them being the blades and the main transmissions, which is a challenge in this region due to the rough environmental conditions. Having a hub to replace and modify the items is important and this facility will be offered in the Al Ain AMMROC facility next year.”

The dependability of the aircraft was visible when one of the UAE Pilots who has experience in flying the aircraft said: “It is very easy to fly and the different technologies and the smart system inside it help a lot to successfully fulfil our missions. It is a truly reliable and trusted aircraft.”

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