IMH 2024: Lockheed Martin touts Black Hawk as bridge to next-gen rotor…

With the Black Hawk set to remain in US Army service through to the 2070s, Lockheed Martin says the helicopter can serve as a bridge through to future rotorcraft now being developed. (Janes/Patrick Allen)

Lockheed Martin is touting its S-70 Black Hawk medium-lift helicopter as a bridge to next-generation rotorcraft now being developed, with new technologies intended to take it out to 2070.

Speaking to Janes ahead of the IQPC International Military Helicopter (IMH) 2024 conference in London, Jay Macklin, business development director at Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky subsidiary, said that, with a raft of extensive upgrades mapped out by both the company and the US Army, the Black Hawk will be the bridge through to Future Vertical Lift (FVL) and what comes after.

“The Black Hawk is going to be around until 2070 and is going to be flying on the same battlefield as Future Vertical Lift (FVL). It has got to be able to operate in that FVL ecosystem, and I really think that the Black Hawk is going to bridge that gap to the next-generation rotorcraft,” Macklin said ahead of the event running from 27 to 29 February.

The Black Hawk entered service with the US Army in 1978, since when the EH-60A, EH-60L, UH-60A, UH-60L, UH-60V, UH-60M, and HH-60M standards have been developed through three ‘generations' of technologies and capabilities, as defined by Lockheed Martin.