The U.S. Army awarded Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a recent contract worth $88,117,272 to build eight UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters.
This is a modification to an existing contract and the work will be formed at Stratford, Connecticut, according to a May 18 Pentagon press release.
The eight UH-60Ms are scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2017.
The Army is in the middle of a proposed Aviation Restructuring effort that involves the transfer all AH-64 Apache attack helicopters from the Army National Guard to the regular Army.
Under the plan, the Army would retire the OH-58 Kiowas and use Apaches for the armed scout and reconnaissance mission instead. Because the service lacks money to buy enough of the attack helicopters to do both missions, it would transfer the Guard’s entire fleet of 192 Apaches to the active component. In return, the Guard would receive 111 UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters from the active component.
