New particulars additionally emerged concerning the arrival on this helicopter, which seems to be the results of a crowdfunding marketing campaign.
After the Ukrainian Directorate of Intelligence unveiled a US-made UH-60 Black Hawk in Ukrainian colours in February 2023, now a video revealed by the company on YouTube reveals the helicopter in motion with particular forces throughout a coaching occasion, training assault landings, extractions and fast-rope insertion operations. In line with the video description, the helicopter is already getting used additionally in fight operations.
The GUR (one of many acronyms of the company) says that each pilots and troops agree that the Black Hawk is significantly ahead of the Mi-8 Hip and Mi-24 Hind in nearly all traits, and that they’re impressed by its reliability, ease of use and fight survival functionality. They point out that the helicopter is far more maneuverable and likewise quicker than the Mi-8, with the aptitude to fly lengthy missions over three hours or 600 km.
The company pressured the truth that pilots coming from the Mi-8 and Mi-24 were able to fly the UH-60 after few hours of their first day with the brand new helicopter. Claims like this one usually are not new, however we must always do not forget that the Black Hawk shouldn’t be solely a brand new machine, nevertheless it additionally has a completely totally different design and employment philosophy behind it that’s utterly totally different from the previous Soviet helicopters. Perhaps it might have been extra than simply few hours, however nonetheless they had been capable of put the UH-60 in motion in a comparatively brief time since February.
“Over the previous yr, the extent of our pilots has grown tremendously. At the moment, Ukraine can simply accommodate a couple of hundred Black Hawk multirole helicopters, about 50 Apache assault helicopters and about 40-60 Chinook cargo helicopters”, stated the primary Ukrainian Black Hawk pilot, who carries the decision signal “Maestro”. “We might settle for such a quantity with minimal time to retrain our pilots.”
To this point that is the one UH-60 helicopter in Ukraine. Its look in Ukraine got here as a shock because it was not introduced in the military aid packages despatched to the war-torn nation. Nonetheless, ABC Information’ reporter Ian Pannell was capable of affirm that the helicopter was purchased on the finish of a crowdfunding marketing campaign that raised six million {dollars}.
Blackhawk helicopters are on the wishlist for Ukrainian pilots for the continuing conflict with Russia — however just one is in service, and needed to be bought from a personal vendor resulting from U.S. restrictions.@IanPannell is on the bottom in Ukraine with extra. https://t.co/MEF96LoK3e pic.twitter.com/puR64KY7dI
— ABC Information (@ABC) April 14, 2023
When the Black Hawk was proven for the primary time in Ukraine, it was reported that its livery was already seen previously on helicopters of the US agency Ace Aeronautics, which focuses on converting older Black Hawk helicopters divested by the U.S. Military for the civilian market. It seems that Ace Aeronautics is certainly the corporate who bought the helicopter to Ukraine.
The truth is, the Federal Aviation Administration registry experiences one of many firm’s helicopter, registration N60FW, as bought to Ukraine. We now know that the Black Hawk in query is a 1980 UH-60A mannequin, which previously served within the U.S. Military with the serial quantity 80-23439. In 2015 the Black Hawk was acquired by Ace Aeronautics, earlier than showing on a sale listing last year the place it was specified the airframe had 5,875 flight hours to its energetic.
The helicopter was upgraded with a glass cockpit based mostly across the Garmin G5000H touchscreen Built-in Flight Deck, referred to as by the corporate “Ace Deck VL-60”. Throughout the 2022 Heli Expo in Dallas, the identical helicopter was additionally proven equipped with dummy AGM-114 Hellfire missiles, M-134D miniguns and a Wescam EO/IR sensor. None of those seem like put in on the UH-60 now that it arrived in Ukraine.
Stefano D’Urso is a contract journalist and contributor to TheAviationist based mostly in Lecce, Italy. A graduate in Industral Engineering he is additionally finding out to realize a Grasp Diploma in Aerospace Engineering. Digital Warfare, Loitering Munitions and OSINT strategies utilized to the world of army operations and present conflicts are amongst his areas of experience.
