MH-60K has a 12.7mm machine gun, which is installed on the brackets on both sides of the gunner's window. Of course, other machine guns such as mini guns can also be installed. 12.7mm machine gun firing rate is much lower than that of gatling, but its range and power are much higher. The short wing of the MH-60K ESSS can also mount many advanced weapons, such as Stinger air-to-air missiles and Hellfire anti-tank missiles. To this end, the aircraft later added a laser target indicator to the forward-looking infrared turret. These weapons will be of great use in special operations. The MH-60K prototype made its first flight on August 1990, and the first mass production machine made its first flight on February 26th 1992. The US Army * * * is equipped with 22 MH-60K aircraft, but the combat situation is confidential, which has played an important role in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq. 1981February, an early batch of UH-60A was converted into a YEH-60B out-of-zone target acquisition system (SOTAS) prototype for battlefield surveillance. The aircraft has lengthened the main landing gear and installed a box-shaped radome under the belly, which is equipped with Motorola Sotas radar. In operation, the landing gear is retracted upwards, and then the radome begins to rotate and scan the battlefield. Later, the US Army decided to cooperate with the US Air Force to develop a more powerful battlefield surveillance system of E-8 "Joint Star", and the SOTAS project was cancelled in September 198 1.
The US Army converted some UH-60A into EH-60A electronic fighters, and installed the "Quick Repair IIB" electronic warfare system to locate, monitor and interfere with enemy communication. On September 24th, 198 1, the YEH-60A prototype made its first flight. By 1988, Traco Systems had completed the modification of 66 EH-60A. Army originally planned to refit 120 EH-60A, but it was abandoned due to operational problems. EH-60A can be identified by large dipole antennas on both sides of the tail beam, and a whip antenna will be put down from the abdomen when the plane flies. The EH-60A has four crew members, a pilot and two operators. It is also equipped with a data link system, which can transmit intelligence data to ground stations or other platforms. In 2005, EH-60A was retired and changed back to transportation configuration. At the end of 1990s, about seven EH-60A aircraft were upgraded to EH-60L "Advanced Quick Repair", and their airframes were upgraded to UH-60L standard. The main content is to upgrade the engine and transmission system and improve avionics. In the late 1990s, the US Army launched a plan to entrust Sikorsky Company to upgrade 1200 UH-60A and UH-60L Blackhawks to UH-60M by 2020, so as to prolong the service life of the aircraft. Four UH-60M prototypes made their first flight in 2000. These four prototypes represent different upgrading schemes: 1 is the UH-60M upgraded from the UH-60A. Unit 2 was upgraded from UH-60L to UH-60M. Unit 3 is an HH-60m-UH-60m medical evacuation model upgraded from UH-60L, and it is also used as a prototype of MH-60M special operations. The No.4 aircraft is a newly manufactured UH-60M, and the Army will continue to purchase new Black Hawks.
In the summer of 2005, the two sides signed a low-speed production contract, delivered the first batch of production for operational evaluation in 2006, and began to form initial combat effectiveness in 2008. The new features of the UH-60M include: prolonging the life of the fuselage, reaching the "zero-time" service life, and enabling the aircraft to continue to serve for 20 to 30 years. A new type of wide chord composite rotor improves performance, especially in high temperature plateau environment, and reduces maintenance cost. The new rotor blade is developed from Sikorsky S-92 civil helicopter, but its length is short. The brand-new digital cockpit reduces the workload of pilots, improves the situational awareness of passengers and provides new communication capabilities.
The improvement of avionics includes dual redundant MIL-STD 1553B data bus; An improved data modem enables the aircraft to access the "Tactical Internet"; Glass cockpit with 4 multi-function displays; Digital map system; Cockpit sound and flight data recorder of ready-made commercial system: global positioning system inertial navigation system: computer mission planning system, which can download the established mission plan; Upgrading the radio system; The AFCS flight control system has been improved. The structural improvement includes installing a new structural beam similar to "facing the sea" in the transmission system area to prolong the service life; Strengthen the skin around the gunner's window and redesign the porthole; Strengthen the skin around the sliding door; The overall service life was evaluated, the fuselage was cleaned and inspected, and the corroded or damaged area was replaced.
The modification workload of UH-60A is much greater than that of UH-60L, because the latter is equipped with T700-GE-70 1C engine and reinforced gearbox. About 193 UH-60A has been upgraded in advance. First, install the tail parts of the UH-60L to maintain flight, and then finally upgrade to the UH-60M. About half of the UH-60A have no ESSS installation points and need to be added in the upgrade. As part of the upgrade project, the UH-60M also got a new 872-liter auxiliary fuel tank. In addition, the UH-60M also added an avionics maintenance cover and improved the infrared suppression system. 60 retired UH-60A "Quick Fix" are also included in the upgrade plan of UH-60M. The US Army and Sykes began to study the successor of the UH-60M, which is called the Future General Rotorcraft (FUR), and was also called UH-60X before. The aircraft will follow the rotor, control and transmission system of Sikorsky S-92; The tail beam is lengthened to cope with the longer rotor; A new engine with more power; Large internal fuel tank. In addition, it also includes a health and use diagnosis system, which may also be adopted by the UH-60M. Active vibration suppression system: an external hook that can hang 4535 kilograms of goods. Now, UH-60X has been defined as UH-60M Block2 batch and included in the long-term production plan of UH-60M.