Aircraft of the ADF – A25 Sikorsky Black Hawk

The Black Hawk, having first flown on October 17, 1974, had already been selected by the US Army as a UH-1 “Huey” replacement in 1976. This, together with its Seahawk commonality, and a superior hot and high performance, led to the Black Hawk selection. An initial Australian order was placed for 14 aircraft on May 29, 1986. During 1986, after much vigorous debate, the decision was made to pass control of the battlefield helicopters from the RAAF to the Army. The RAAF was to see the Black Hawk into service, then the 14 aircraft would transfer to army control.

The first Australian Black Hawk, designated S-70A-9 by Sikorsky and serialled A25-101 (Sikorsky c/n 701067), flew at the Stratford, Connecticut, plant on September 11, 1987. After being handed over to the RAAF on December 31, it was flown to RAAF Amberley by C-130 and delivered to No 9 Squadron on February 27, 1988. By this stage, nearly 900 Black Hawks had been delivered to the US Army. Meanwhile, licence assembly in Australia had started in April 1987 with Hawker de Havilland (HdH) at Bankstown as the prime contractor. The remaining 13 aircraft of this Batch One order were assembled at HdH and were serialled A25-102 to A25-114 (c/n between 701089 and 701240).

The first of these, A25-102, was handed over at Bankstown on May 12, 1988, and was received at 9 Squadron the following day. From August to October 1988, A25-102 was tested at the US Naval Air Test Centre at Patuxent River, USA, in electromagnetic interference trials. During this period, A25-101 was attached to the RAAF’s Aircraft Research and Development Unit (ARDU) for gunnery trials.

During Christmas 1988, No 9 Squadron relocated from Amberley to the RAAF base at Townsville, and on February 15, 1989 the unit was disbanded. Production delays at HdH had led to deliveries running twelve months late, so only the eight RAAF Black Hawks delivered by this date were handed over to A Squadron of the Army’s 5th Aviation Regiment. Subsequently, all Black Hawks from the HdH production line were delivered direct to the army.

In May 1987, an additional 25 Black Hawks were ordered. These Batch Two aircraft, with only minor changes from the first 14, were serialled A25-201 to A25-225. In addition, the External Stores Support Systems (ESSS) equipment was obtained for the Black Hawk fleet. This equipment provides stub wings to enable the carriage of additional fuel tanks, an important improvement to the range for northern Australian operations.

The first of the Batch Two aircraft, A25-201 (c/n 701292), was completed in 1989. However, it was retained by Sikorsky in the US as a development vehicle for a number of Australian requested engineering changes, and was not formally delivered to the army until June 13, 1991. Most of this second batch were delivered to the 5th Aviation Regiment at Townsville to complete the equipping of A Squadron and to raise B Squadron. At this time, the number of Black Hawks in service made Australia the largest operator of the type outside the USA.

The last aircraft off the HdH production line, A25-225 (c/n 701455) was completed five months ahead of the renegotiated schedule and delivered to Army on January 30, 1991. The first aircraft had taken 30,000 man-hours to complete, the last less than 10,000 man-hours. In Army service the 39 Black Hawks are flown operationally by both squadrons of the 5th Aviation Regiment at Townsville, and in the training role by the School of Army Aviation at Oakey. In addition, normally at least one aircraft is operated for development flying at ARDU, flying from the RAAF’s Edinburgh base. One of the School’s aircraft, A25-217, was lost in an accident near Oakey in June 1992.

On May 10, 1993, the Government announced its decision to deploy six Black Hawks to the United Nations effort in Cambodia to assist with that country’s general elections. Accordingly, the Black Hawks were ready in days, which included the repainting in the mandatory white UN livery. The helicopters were flown to Thailand by a US Air Force C-5 Galaxy, arriving at the U-Tapao Air Base on May 21. In Thailand, the Black Hawks were reassembled and flown to Cambodia, where they were operated by 5 Aviation Regiment’s B Squadron. The aircraft involved were A25-103, -106, -108, -202, -212 and -218. After flying general support tasks to assist United Nations efforts to ensure a fair election, the Black Hawks were returned to Australia inside a leased Russian Antonov An-124 transport, arriving in Townsville on July 20.

The different variants of the Black Hawk in service around the world includes the following:

UH-60A: Standard US Army utility transport version, 974 produced until production switched in 1989 to the UH-60L (including 10 ex-US Army aircraft delivered to Israel in 1994). MH-60A: 30 aircraft converted from the UH-60A for special operations tasks with the US Army. YEH-60B: A prototype conversion of a UH-60A for the US Army Stand Off Target Acquisition System (SOTAS) requirement in 1981, discontinued in favour of the J-STARS programme. EH-60C: 66 UH-60A converted as “Quick Fix” aircraft for communications location and jamming. HH-60D: “Night Hawk”, a USAF programme involving conversion of 11 UH-60As to fulfil the combat rescue role of the CH-53 “Jolly Green Giant” — this programme was cancelled in 1985. MH-60G: “Pave Hawk”, UH-60A and UH-60L converted for USAF special operations missions and equipped with inflight refuelling. HH-60G: 82 aircraft for USAF combat search and rescue (SAR) operations. UH-60J: Licence built by Mitsubishi for the Japanese Air Self Defence Force and Maritime Self Defence Force. MH-60K: 46 aircraft, converted from the UH-60L, delivered over 1992-93 for US Army special operations, equipped with special electronic equipment such as FLIR and terrain following radar (TFR), in addition to inflight refuelling. UH-60L: Standard US Army variant following the UH-60A, with uprated 1857shp (1385kW) T700-GE-701C engines with improved transmission, and all up weight increased from 9980kg to 10,440kg (22,000lb to 23,000lb). VH-60N: Nine USMC aircraft for Presidential transport. UH-60P: 81 aircraft for the South Korean Army. UH-60Q: UH-60L modified for medical evacuation (medevac), configured for nine litter patients. S-70A-1: 21 “Desert Hawk” aircraft for Saudi Arabia. S-70A-2: Designation for Germany, not yet ordered. S-70A-3: Allocation for Spanish Army/Air Force. S-70A-4: Designation for Switzerland, not yet ordered. S-70A-5: Two Philippine Air Force aircraft. S-70A-6: Transport version for Thailand, not yet ordered. S-70A-7: Peru, not yet ordered. S-70A Variants and Australian Operations

S-70A-8: Brazil, not yet ordered. S-70A-9: The 39 Australian aircraft. S-70A-10: Designation for Israel, not yet ordered. S-70A-11: Three for Jordan in 1987. S-70A-12: Japanese UH-60J. S-70A-13: Not used. S-70A-14: Two Vip aircraft for Brunei, delivered in 1986. S-70A-15: Sweden, not yet ordered. S-70A-16: Allocation reserved for Westland Ws-70 production. S-70A-17: 12 aircraft for Turkish Police delivered 1988-90. S-70A-18: Korean UH-60P. S-70A-19: Reserved for Westland in Uk. S-70A-20: Vip variant for Thailand, not yet ordered. S-70A-21: Two Vip aircraft to Egypt in 1990. S-70A-22: Korean Vip version. S-70A-23: Algeria, not yet ordered. S-70A-24: Two UH-60Ls for Mexico delivered in 1991. S-70A-25: Delivered to Moroccan Police in 1992. S-70A-26: Different variant for Moroccan Police. S-70A-27: Two delivered to Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force in 1992. S-70A-28: Follow-on batch of 95 for Turkish Police and armed forces delivered from 1993, with the last 50 to be co-produced in Turkey.

The Black Hawks of A and B Squadrons fulfil the airmobile role in support of the army’s 3rd Brigade of the Operational Deployment Force. The other unit of the 5th Aviation Regiment, C Squadron, is equipped with the UH-1H Iroquois and within months will also receive the CH-47D Chinook, in the airmobile support role. The acquisition of the Chinook has primarily been to enable resupply of fuel in support of Black Hawk operations.

Australia’s Black Hawks have been in the news again recently because of problems with cracking and corrosion (caused largely by the high usage of external fuel tanks and stores) and lack of spare parts. Twenty-four Black Hawks were effectively grounded earlier this year. Total costs for spare parts and repairs will amount to $20m; the affected aircraft will be returned to service over the coming months.