Sikorsky reveals ‘Black Hawk Next’ concept for modernised UH-60

Improved engines, airframe structural enhancements and autonomous flight capability are pillars of the new configuration.

Rotorcraft manufacturer Sikorsky has revealed its future plans for the venerable UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter.

Provisionally dubbed “Black Hawk Next”, the concept will see the prolific utility platform gain the ability to carry additional weapons and sensor payloads, while also increasing flight performance.

Sikorsky says there are four main pillars of the UH-60 modernisation effort: improved engines, structural enhancements to the airframe, increased autonomy and a new digital ‘backbone’ that will make future improvements easier.

Jason Wrigley, Sikorsky’s business development director for army and air force programmes, says the Black Hawk Next will allow the battle-tested rotorcraft to “fly faster, to carry more, with improved safety and survivability, and, most importantly, to expand mission performance”.

Sikorsky made the announcement on 12 October at the annual Association of the US Army conference in Washington, DC.

Amongst the most obvious changes coming to the UH-60 are an extended nose and external stub wings that will be used to hold the new class of “launched effects” — multi-role effectors being developed by the US Army. These are essentially one-way drones that can be deployed from the ground or the air to provide reconnaissance, lethal strike, communiciation support and other battlefield effects.

The larger nose section will allow for the “flexible mounting of new sensors and avionics equipment”, Wrigley says. Sikorsky is also working to increase the onboard fuel capacity without impacting the UH-60’s internal cabin volume.

Together, the various improvements will increase available payload by at least 453kg (1,000lb), extend range by more than 100nm (1,850km) and add 45m of time on station.

“It just really all adds up to giving commanders more operational flexibility,” Wrigley says.

These enhancements will be available both for new-build aircraft and as upgrade kits for in-service examples.

Sikorsky also plans to fully integrate its Matrix autonomous flight technology into the Black Hawk Next. The system has been successfully flying UH-60s without any onboard pilot since 2022 using a fly-by-wire control system and specialised flight computer.

Sikorsky is currently on contract to deliver four Matrix-configured “UH-60MX” Black Hawks to the US Army, with the lead aircraft handed over earlier this year.

“The army will use these to collect soldier feedback and develop tactics, techniques, and procedures on the use of autonomous aircraft,” Wrigley says.

Perhaps the most important component in achieving the improved performance targets of the Black Hawk Next is the new GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engine that will replace the Black Hawk’s current T700 turboshafts.

Although the ultimate fate of the programme has been in a state of budgetary limbo, the US Army has funded an integration and flight-test campaign for the T901. Sikorsky and GE logged the first flight with a T901-powered Black Hawk in 2025, with more than 70h of flight time accrued since.

“We’ve done all the low-speed stuff at maximum gross weight, flying 45kt sideways. We’ve done 60° angle of bank at maximum weight at a number of altitudes and done a great deal of manoeuvring at high altitude as well,” says Bill Fell, one of Sikorsky’s experimental test pilots.

A second test aircraft is now being added to the T901 programme, which will support high-altitude test flights in Colorado and cold weather trials in Fairbanks, Alaska.

T901 integration testing has been taking place at Sikorsky’s flight-test centre in West Palm Beach, Florida, but will soon move to harsher environs in Colorado and Alaska. Source: US Army

With an output of 3,000shp (2,240kW), the T901 offers 50% more power than the 2,000shp available from each of the UH-60’s T700 powerplants. Fell says that translates into significantly improved flight performance.

“Every machine that exists out there has some limits associated with it, and the engine is no longer the limit on the Black Hawk,” he says.

“A couple weeks ago, I was flying through 19,000ft density altitude with the collective all the way up, and we’re climbing still well in excess of 1,000ft per minute, potentially close to double that. And that is not normal for helicopters.”

On another recent flight at a similar altitude, Fell says the T901-equipped Black Hawk carrying its maximum gross weight was able to achieve a climb rate of 500ft per minute.

In August, the US Army granted a preliminary flight rating to the T901, describing the powerplant as having “attained the level of maturity and technical confidence necessary to support defined flight operations”.

Flight testing is expected to conclude sometime in the second half of 2027.

The US Army has roughly 2,300 UH-60s in service, meaning a fleet-wide fielding would take years to roll out if the service moves forward with funding the upgrade.

A separate programme to re-engine the US Army’s more than 800 Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopters with the T901, which would require its own integration and test campaign, remains an open matter.

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