“One of the advantages of using a proven platform is it can help you control risk in your production process,” said Daryl Mayer, an Air Force spokesman. “Obviously, the military has a lot of experience with Black Hawk.”
The new version will be able to carry more fuel internally compared to the HH-60G Pave Hawk it will replace, the Air Force said.
The HH-60G began flying in 1982. A name for the latest version — known colloquially as the 60-Whiskey — has not been decided, the Air Force said in a statement.
The aircraft will undergo continued testing prior to production. A systems requirements review is scheduled within the year.
Air crews piloted Pave Hawks in rescue operations and troop retrieval flights in the Middle East, and in rescue operations around the world, from Africa to Japan. Immediately after Hurricane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005, Pave Hawks rescued 4,300 people in about a month out of the flood and wind-ravaged coast.
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