Back to the Future with the Blackhawk.

Australian Army UH-60M Blackhawk program moving at pace as Lockheed Martin announce investment into maintenance facility at Holsworthy.

 

 

Article: Jaryd Stock.
Images: Jaryd Stock & Ryan Imeson

 

 

 

 

 

The Australian Army showed off one of it’s new capabilities at the Australian International Airshow last week at Avalon Airport, the new Lockheed Martin (Sikorsky) UH-60M Blackhawk (serial: A60-006) transport helicopters

Australian Army will acquire a fleet of 40 Sikorsky UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters, under a foreign military sale with the United States worth AU$2.85 billion, to replace Australia’s fleet of MRH-90 Taipan helicopters as part of LAND 4507 Phase 1.

Deliveries of thirteen UH-60Ms out of total commitments of forty have been completed with seven more UH-60Ms due this year, with all forty aircraft to be delivered by 2030.

The Australian Army have already built a solid base of operations around the Blackhawk with the service having formally operated the S-70A-9 Blackhawk inherited from the Royal Australian Air Force in the early nineties until finally being retired at the end of 2021.

The new UH-60M variant is much more versatile than the MRH-90 Taipan capable of executing air assault, command and control, combat search and rescue, vip transport duties and medical evacuation in any humanitarian disaster and relief efforts.

The advantage that this version of the Blackhawk has over the formally operated S-70A variant and the MRH-90 that its outright replacing is that it has advanced situational awareness, survivability due to its enhanced sensors and technologies onboard, as well as having greater maintenance efficiency and interoperability with both exisiting and any future Army platforms.

 

 

The Australian Blackhawks will be aligned with the U.S. Army versions of the Blackhawk to keep commonality of the type as the service expects to maintain configuration alignment because it allows the aviation regiments operating the Blackhawk to draw upon the experience in operating the Mike version of the helicopter and also draw from the logistics program for the aircraft.

Brigadier Andy Thomas Deputy Commander, Aviation Command spoke with APD on the trade day 3 of the Avalon Airshow and gave an update on the Blackhawk procurement.

“Its been a rapid and remarkable acquisition of the Blackhawk after the government announced in 2023 that the MRH-90 Taipan will be retired and the UH-60M be procured, and from that announcement to our first delivery of the Blackhawk and subsequent flying in Australia took about 8 months.

And from that time to now we have achieved Initial Operating Capability (IOC) and we have declared a Counter Terrorism capability with this aircraft (with 6th Aviation Regiment based at Holsworthy barracks)”, stated Brigadier Thomas.

Achieving IOC in the program has been in BRIG Thomas words “kicking goals, with the availability rates fantastic” in operating the aircraft with the thirteen aircraft delivered already in the IOC configuration which is the army having rescue hoists fitted to the aircraft, also having been installed with internal wireless communications suite and auxiliary fuel tanks, which will be delivered on the first nineteen aircraft.

Full Operational Capability (FOC) configuration aircraft from number twenty onwards will see colour weather radar, electro-optical/infrared sensors and fitted with mini-guns, and the Army is very conscious of ticking off their capability milestones moving forward with the program, retrofitting the first nineteen aircraft into FOC will begin in May.

Oakey near Toowoomba will receive its first two Blackhawks later in the year with the School of Army Aviation taking delivery in the mid year timeframe and with the first Blackhawk operating course for crews starting from early 2026. In total there will be sixteen aircraft that will operate from Oakey, with the School of Army Aviation.

After those deliveries are completed to Oakey 5th Aviation Regiment in Townsville will be the next and last element to be equipped with the UH-60M.

Lockheed Martin Australia has also announced at the airshow a new custom-fit logistics warehouse in Sydney next to Holsworthy barracks, designed to provide dedicated support services for the Australian Army’s UH-60M Black Hawk fleet.

Located just outside the Army’s Holsworthy Base, the 4,500-square-metre facility forms part of Lockheed Martin Australia’s integrated Support Contract with the Army. The warehouse will store replenishment spares, support and test equipment, and essential provisions.

The establishment of the warehouse has already created 30 enduring warehouse and logistics jobs in Sydney, with further opportunities on the horizon as the fleet expands in the coming years, Lockheed Martin said.

Warren McDonald, chief executive of Lockheed Martin Australia and New Zealand, said: “I commend the Australian Army and our team for the swift establishment of this logistics warehouse facility. This facility boosts our operational readiness by ensuring the Black Hawk fleet is well supplied, maintained and combat-ready.”

BRIG Thomas stated, “We do have a very robust maintenance facility at Holsworthy and we have great support from Lockheed Martin and they were able to transition our MRH-90 workforce to the Blackhawk system and we are finding that this aircraft is a lot less labour intensive than the Taipan, and we have a very robust maintenance workforce for this capability.”

The warehouse is equipped with two computer-controlled Vertical Lift Machines that Lockheed Martin said efficiently stack spares vertically, tripling inventory capacity without increasing floor space.

Lockheed Martin have already established personal integrated with 6th Aviation Regiment at Holsworthy providing support where required along with supporting the logistical hub at the barracks.

The switch to Black Hawks is anticipated to save the Commonwealth government $2.5 billion, with acquisition and sustainment costs estimated to total $7 billion between 2022 and 2037.