In 2001, the film "Black Hawk Down" directed by British director Ridley Scott was released worldwide. In the film, the 160th Special Aviation Regiment of the US Army drove the Black Hawk helicopter (Black Hawk for short) to Mogadishu, Somalia to rescue the wounded, but was hit by the Somalis with RPG-7 rockets. The black eagle fell from the sky, and this scene is still fresh in the memory of many viewers.
Although the Black Hawk had a dark moment when it was defeated, it did not hide its flaws. As a star helicopter in the 1970s, it still enjoys a high reputation today after nearly half a century. What kind of helicopter is this? What story has the Black Hawk experienced in the real world?
The dark horse that replaced "Iroquois"
The Black Hawk originated from the U.S. Army's "Utility Tactical Transport Flight System" (UTTAS) in 1972. During the more than ten years of the Vietnam War, the U.S. military's Iroquois helicopters made a big splash in the harsh environment of the Vietnamese jungle, known as the "battlefield taxi in the tropical rainforest". However, at the most critical moment of the war, the U.S. Army came up with the idea of replacing the Iroquois helicopter, but because the war was in full swing at the time, it had no time to take this matter into consideration. After the Vietnam War, in the face of a large number of old Iroquois helicopters, the U.S. Army began to implement a single-propeller, twin-engine, general-purpose helicopter with good high temperature performance and air mobility to replace the increasingly old Iroquois helicopters. plan.
In 1972, the U.S. Army proposed the design indicators of a new helicopter: two General Electric T700 turboshaft engines, capable of carrying 11 heavily armed soldiers and 3 crew members; when the temperature is 35 ℃, the hovering height without ground effect is 1200 meters ; Cruising speed must reach 270-330 kilometers per hour; Armor and other passive protection measures are provided in key parts, which can withstand the attack of 7.62 mm bullets from 100 meters away; some parts can withstand the attack of 23 mm artillery shells; the external cargo hook can withstand 3,000kg load; simple maintenance, mean time between failures not less than 4 flight hours, and can be quickly transported by air transport; other requirements include a climb rate of 2.3 to 2.8 meters per second, a single-engine ceiling of more than 1,500 meters, and an endurance of 2 hours above etc.
At the tender meeting held shortly after the release of the design indicators, three companies submitted five design proposals. In the final bidding battle between Boeing and Siskoky, the latter emerged as the winner. The final victory for Siskogie was an accidental crash - a YUH-60A helicopter (bidding by Siskogie) for a night flight test landed in a dense forest. Although the aircraft was slightly damaged, no one was injured. , and after replacing the rotor, it flew back to the air force base on its own. This kind of performance made the US military technical director blurt out: "That's it!" On December 23, 1976, the US Army announced that the Sikorgi company's YUH-60A helicopter was awarded the target. The finalized helicopter number removed the letter Y representing the test machine and was named UH-60A helicopter. The U.S. Army military helicopters are mostly named after the brave North American Indian tribes, such as "Iroquois", "Kiowa", "Apache", "Comanche" and so on. As the main general-purpose helicopter of the U.S. military since the 1970s, the naming of the UH-60A helicopter is no exception.
In July 1977, the UH-60A began mass production, and in October 1978 the production UH-60A made its first flight. Officially delivered to the U.S. Army in June 1979, the first units to be equipped were the U.S. 101st Airborne Division stationed at Fort Campbell, the southernmost tip of Kentucky. At the time, the ex-factory price of a UH-60A was $5.87 million, which rose to $8.6 million in 1997.
Vertical vanguard galloping on the battlefield
On the basis of the UH-60A helicopter, technicians have developed a series of Black Hawk helicopters for different purposes. Since its official service, the Black Hawk has become the undisputed leader of the U.S. Army's air transport force. In 1983, when the US military invaded Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean Sea, the Black Hawk's excellent battlefield survivability was affirmed by the US military, which was also the "first show" of the Black Hawk. At the time, after a Black Hawk flew back to base with the injured pilot, ground crews found 45 large holes in the fuselage, two in the main rotor and one in the tail rotor. A Black Hawk purchased by the Turkish Army from the United States returned to its base after flying for nearly an hour after being hit by a terrorist with a 25mm grenade. In the "Desert Storm" operation of the Gulf War, the completion rate of the US military's Black Hawk mission was as high as 85%. In previous armed conflicts, the US military lost a total of 5 Black Hawk helicopters, only one crashed after being shot down by ground anti-aircraft fire.
Black Hawk series helicopters all adopt an overall layout, with a captain of 19.76 meters and a main rotor diameter of 16.36 meters, so there is a spacious cabin in the center. The tail rotor has a diameter of 3.35 meters, an empty weight of 4955 kilograms, and a take-off weight of 9185 kilograms. Equipped with two General Electric T700 turboshaft engines, the maximum level flight speed is 293 kilometers per hour. Even if one engine fails, it can still maintain the flight speed of 195 kilometers per hour. The maximum take-off weight range is 600 kilometers. If the auxiliary fuel tank is attached to the pylon, the range can be increased to 2220 kilometers.
"Black Hawk Down" stills
The Black Hawk has a strong striking power. As early as 1987, the U.S. Army completed the launch qualification of the Black Hawk-launched Hellfire missile. The basic weapon of the Black Hawk is two M60D7.62mm heavy machine guns mounted on both sides of the fuselage. It can also mount 16 Haierfa anti-tank missiles and rocket launchers, so its anti-tank firepower is considerable.
Blackhawk security features are a shining calling card. The fuselage adopts a semi-monocoque light alloy anti-crash structure, with 4 longitudinal keels and 4 main stress frames connected together. Shock-absorbing seats and a honeycomb-like material under the fuselage provide safety for the occupants. Even if the helicopter crashes, the cockpit can withstand a vertical crash speed of 11.5 meters per second, ensuring that the survival rate of the occupants on the plane reaches more than 85%. The Black Hawk is also equipped with an automatic power-off system to cut off the fuel supply to ensure that no fuel leaks or explodes after the plane crashes. Even in the event of an accident, the Black Hawk can withstand minor shocks, and when the outcome is irreversible, the safety of the crew can be maximized. Few people design a helicopter with a crash in mind, but it is this "overthinking" that has saved many soldiers' lives. In the movie "Black Hawk Down", when the Black Hawk, codenamed "Super 61", was shot down and crashed by an RPG-7 rocket, except for the pilot and the co-pilot, the other occupants were safe and sound, which fully shows that the anti-crash structure of the Black Hawk is more effective.
As a general-purpose helicopter, the Black Hawk can mount different equipment according to different combat needs and complete different combat missions. The cabin can carry 11 fully armed soldiers, and 14 soldiers can be loaded in the high-density layout. The two push-pull doors are convenient to open and close, which can ensure the rapid entry and exit of the crew. When performing ambulance missions, 6 stretchers can be installed, and the aircraft can be equipped with various ambulance equipment, including oxygen equipment, casualty monitors, and environmental control systems. The Doppler radar GPS navigation system, casualty locator, forward-looking infrared device, etc. in the aircraft can ensure that it can perform battlefield rescue tasks around the clock. In view of the good performance of the Black Hawk, some U.S. troops even converted it into a special firefighting aircraft, nicknamed "Firefighting Eagle". As long as a large 4546-liter water tank is installed on the belly of the aircraft, the Black Hawk can effectively perform firefighting tasks, and the water tank can also be removed to become a military aircraft during wartime.
In addition, in many details, the Black Hawk is also unique. By adopting a bearingless cross-beam structure tail rotor (the tail rotor plane is inclined upwards by 20°), and equipped with a powerful General Electric T700 turboshaft and a low fuselage, it can quickly maneuver in a hovering state. Evade in response to gunfire and rocket attacks from the ground. In addition, the take-off weight of nearly 10 tons means that the Black Hawk can not only carry some lighter weapons and equipment like a transport helicopter or transport a team of commandos, but also equip more mount points in the attack modification, providing more Strong fire support. For example, the UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter can carry 16 "Hellfa" anti-tank missiles when performing anti-armor missions.
It is precisely because the Black Hawk has such excellent performance that it has achieved its glorious history of the South and the North. Even after the "Black Hawk Incident" in Somalia, the US military still trusted this faithful war eagle and brought it to the battlefield in Afghanistan. In the action to kill bin Laden, the Black Hawk also played an important role, and let people see its important value once again.
After "exchange blood", he wants to dominate the blue sky
Since its official installation in 1979, the Black Hawk helicopter has gone through more than 40 years. As an outstanding representative of general-purpose helicopters, this old and hardened soldier has become somewhat powerless with the rapid development of modern science and technology. However, the U.S. military is very fond of this model with excellent performance and reasonable design, and has not even started a new aircraft replacement plan, but has modernized and upgraded it again and again to ensure that the Black Hawk "never falls."
In February 2016, Grumman, along with the U.S. Army Prototype Integration Facility (PIF) and Redstone Defense Systems, completed a critical design review for the UH-60V Black Hawk helicopter (UH-60V) program. Under the contract, Grumman will upgrade the Black Hawk's digital cockpit. It is an expandable, fully integrated cockpit based on an open architecture, replacing the old analog gauges with new digital electronic instrument panels.
On January 19, 2017, the UH-60V engineering development helicopter successfully flew for the first time in Alabama, USA. After the final maintenance operations and acceptance test procedures, the UH-60V prototype was handed over to the Aviation Flight Test Office to continue the R&D test of system upgrades. After performance improvement, UH-60V strengthens the occupant's environmental awareness, improves mission safety, reduces personnel workload, and reduces life cycle costs. The R&D party also provided a UH-60V simulation training environment for personnel training.
In 2018, Sikorsky and the U.S. Army conducted a "limited user test" of the UH-60V with the main purpose of completing the "software flight qualification test" of the aircraft. In the same year, the U.S. Army also officially approved the mass production of the aircraft. plan. In 2019, the UH-60V entered the low-rate pre-production stage, and at the same time, the U.S. Army also began to evaluate the combat effectiveness of the aircraft. That same year, the UH-60V passed the U.S. Army's initial operational test and evaluation. In April 2020, the UH-60V completed the digital cockpit and initial operational testing and evaluation.
UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter
The U.S. Department of Defense's Office of Operational Test and Evaluation said in its 2019 annual report: "The UH-60V has a similar cockpit to the UH-60M (an upgrade to the UH-60A, which entered production in 2005), so the U.S. Army can Black Hawk pilots are systematically trained, and once qualified to fly the UH-60M, the pilot can quickly transition to the UH-60V.” The new digital cockpit equipped on the UH-60V is based on satellite navigation and complies with the latest requirements of global air traffic management . The report also states: "Because it meets the latest requirements of global air traffic management, the UH-60V can be deployed anywhere that global air traffic management standards are implemented." In addition, the upgraded Black Hawk is compatible with "the future airborne capability environment open system." "Standards remain consistent, which supports the integration of off-the-shelf hardware and software, thus enabling rapid replacement of feature sets as aircraft systems are upgraded.
On October 9, 2020, the U.S. Army announced that the first modified and upgraded UH-60V Black Hawk helicopter was officially put into service, and a launch ceremony was held at the Corpus Christi Army Depot in Texas.
The U.S. Army plans to upgrade all Black Hawks to V-models and upgrade at least 48 per year, eventually modernizing 760 Black Hawks. The upgraded Black Hawk is similar in performance to the latest version of the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter, but at a much lower cost. Perhaps, in the long run, what the US military wants to change is not the Black Hawk helicopter itself, but the current status and image of the US military. What is certain is that the Black Hawk helicopters after the "exchange" will dominate the blue sky for a long time to come.
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