UH-60 Black Hawk (NO.2)
The UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicoptermanufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky submitted the S-70 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. The UH-60A entered service with the Army in 1979, to replace the UH-1 Iroquois as the Army’s tactical transport helicopter.
General characteristics
- Crew: 2 pilots (flight crew)
- Capacity: 2,640 lb of cargo internally, including 14 troops or 6 stretchers, or 8,000 lb (UH-60A) or 9,000 lb (UH-60L) of cargo externally
- Length: 64 ft 10 in (19.76 m)
- Fuselage width: 7 ft 9 in (2.36 m)
- Rotor diameter: 53 ft 8 in (16.36 m)
- Height: 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m)
- Disc area: 2,260 ft² (210 m²)
- Empty weight: 10,624 lb (4,819 kg)
- Loaded weight: 22,000 lb (9,980 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 23,500 lb (10,660 kg)
- Powerplant: 2× General Electric T700-GE-701C turboshaft, 1,890 hp (1,410 kW) each
Performance
- Never exceed speed: 193 knots (222 mph, 357 km/h)
- Maximum speed: 159 kn (183 mph, 295 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 150 kn (173 mph, 278 km/h)
- Combat radius: 368 mi (320 nmi, 592 km)
- Ferry range: 1,380 mi[65] (1,200 nmi, 2,220 km) with ESSS stub wings and external tanks[68]
- Service ceiling: 19,000 ft (5,790 m)
- Rate of climb: 700 ft/min (3.6 m/s)
- Disc loading: 7.19 lb/ft² (35.4 kg/m²)
- Power/mass: 0.192 hp/lb (158 W/kg)
Armament
- Guns:
- 2× 7.62 mm (0.30 in) M240H machine guns[69] or
- 2× 7.62 mm (0.30 in) M134 minigun[68] or
- 2× .50 in (12.7 mm) GAU-19 gatling guns[68]
- Can be equipped with VOLCANO minefield dispersal system.[68] See UH-60 Armament Subsystems for more information.
- ESSS stub wings can be equipped with
- 70 mm (2.75 in) Hydra 70 rockets[68]
- AGM-114 Hellfire laser guided missiles[68]
- 7.62 mm (0.30 in), 20 mm (0.787 in), or 30 mm (1.18 in) M230 gunpods[68]
