The Army Just Unveiled the Blueprint for Rapidly Upgrading Fielded Platforms

As the Army Transformation Initiative drives forward, Army Aviation faces a unique challenge: develop and deploy new platforms while also ensuring fielded aircraft modernize to meet the mission needs of both active duty and National Guard Soldiers.

That’s critical to the Army’s goal of delivering warfighting capabilities, and it’s no small task. Global mission needs are rapidly changing, with the emergence of both new drone threats and new priorities in the Indo-Pacific. Closer to home, the Guard needs versatile and reliable aviation support to secure America’s border and respond to emergencies.

The Black Hawk remains the cornerstone of Army Aviation. From the Indo-Pacific to Indiana, Soldiers rely on the Black Hawk every hour of every day, for missions ranging from air assault to firefighting.

Upgrading a large, global fleet can be a real challenge. Fortunately, Army Aviation has cracked the code for efficient modernization, evidenced by its blueprint for Black Hawk Next, the newest evolution of the iconic UH-60M Black Hawk.

The Army’s Black Hawk modernization strategy – which is officially underway – maps out a future for a helicopter that will be flying into the 2070s, ensuring this iconic workhorse stays ahead of the threat and plugs into modern digital operations.

The Army’s approach:

• Moves fast, delivering foundational capabilities now that are designed to evolve rapidly;
• Reduces costs, by making sustainment more affordable and by establishing multi-year bulk pricing; and
• Accelerates capability, by making the Black Hawk an integral part of the Future Vertical Lift battlespace.

Bringing new capability to the left while saving costs is a winning combination. Here’s how the Army is making that happen:

Invest in Strategic Speed

Upgrading to a digital backbone with a Modular Open Systems Approach, or MOSA, is an investment that will pay dividends for decades, as it will make future upgrades to the system faster and cheaper than ever.

As industry delivers new sensors, new comms, and new avionics, a MOSA-powered Black Hawk Next can introduce those innovations without major retrofitting and re-engineering. That means fielded MOSA aircraft can stay on the cutting edge without exorbitant costs or downtime. It also makes sustainment easier and more efficient.

MOSA is the future. Sikorsky continues to develop and demonstrate the value of this approach by regularly demonstrating how third-parties can integrate technology via an open architecture. These ongoing demonstrations prove that with MOSA, you can simultaneously grow capability and reduce costs.

Digitize to Dominate

Integrating digital technologies will make the Black Hawk Next a critical asset in a multi-domain fight. Modernized Black Hawks will carry, launch, and control teams of launched effects drones that serve as the eyes and ears of the ground commander. Sikorsky has field-tested low-cost upgrade kits that can rapidly turn any Black Hawk into a drone command center.

MATRIX™ technology, Sikorsky’s autonomy software, will make flying in bad conditions safer, reduce flight crew workload, and turn some Black Hawks into fully-autonomous unmanned systems in their own right.

As tactics evolve and the Army uses drones and networking to dominate the lower-tier air domain, these upgrades transform the Black Hawk from a rugged utility helicopter to a drone delivery system, giving ground commanders the ability to see and shape the battlefield.

Boost Performance for the Indo-Pacific

Improved engine performance will enable the Black Hawk Next to carry more payload farther than ever. And with airframe updates, it will carry more fuel and be more survivable – all critical capabilities for the far-flung islands and rugged terrain of the region. These updates don’t just improve performance, they’re laser focused on the capabilities the Black Hawk needs to support Division commanders in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

Invest in American Small Businesses

Sikorsky is in discussions with the Army on a Multi-Year XI contract for the UH-60M – the newest model that is the envy of units that don’t yet have one in their fleet. The contract will help support Army Transformation Initiative goals, as more Army and National Guard units will be divesting their older “Lima” models and upgrading to the “Mike” model. At the same time, America’s allies are expressing unprecedented interest in procuring more UH-60Ms.

That saves costs through bulk-buy pricing and also contributes to a resilient supply chain and jobs for American workers, especially the 230 Black Hawk suppliers in 43 states. The majority of these companies are small- to medium-sized businesses that provide good-paying, technical jobs and support American communities.

A Formula that Works

That’s an effective blueprint for modernizing fielded systems quickly and cost-effectively, and an accelerator for Army Transformation Initiative objectives.