From Mike to Victor
At Wiesbaden Army Air Field (Germany), Company A Aces/1-214th Aviation Regiment (A/1-214th AVN) of the US Army in Europe's 12th Combat Aviation Brigade commenced conversion from the UH-60M Black Hawk to the UH-60V version of this assault helicopter.
The first three UH-60Vs were delivered to the unit on 4 June 2023, on board C-17A 03-3115 (183rd AS MS ANG). The same aircraft departed the next day back to the Continental United States (CONUS) carrying a similar number of UH-60M helicopters which are slated to be reassigned to other units.
In total ten UH-60Ms were assigned to A/1-214th AVN. These were delivered in March and April 2018, replacing the ageing UH-60A+ Black Hawks previously in use. Just five years down the line, ten UH-60V Black Hawks are planned to be delivered to replace the Mike models.
The helicopters involved are:
The UH-60V is an upgrade version of the UH-60L with a new digital (glass) cockpit and integrated avionics suite. This has been developed by the US Army and Northrop Grumman Corporation, with the aviation manufacturer delivering the new cockpits and actual conversion being executed by the US Army at their Corpus Christi Army Depot (TX).
After a rigorous period of design and testing, the first UH-60V model helicopters were fielded in July 2021. Six UH-60Vs delivered to the training unit Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site (EAATS) of Pennsylvania Army National Guard at Fort Indiantown (PA). The first UH-60V delivery to an operational unit took place in January 2022. This was 1-106th AVN IL ARNG, and in about one years time a total of thirty helicopters were delivered to A/1-106th AVN IL ARNG (Decatur, IL), B/1-106th AVN IL ARNG (Kankakee, IL) and C/1-106th AVN GA ARNG (Winder, GA).
End-April 2023, the US Army announced to postpone full rate UH-60V cockpit production until after a review of the programme and the associated cost. The latter has risen mainly due to high inflation numbers in 2022/2023. At the same time, the US Army also announced to continue fielding UH-60Vs as planned, with A/1-214th AVN as the third unit to receive the type.
Due to the delay of the full rate production decision, the number of UH-60V conversion kits planned to be purchased has been downscaled over the next few years: 21 in FY23 (down from 28), 26 in FY24 (down from 28), 34 in FY25 (down from 42), 44 in FY26 (down from 48) and 42 in FY27 (down from 48).
Photo by Corpus Christy Army Depot (Twitter @CCADPAO)