Rotorcraft manufacturer Sikorsky has begun ground testing on a new engine for the company’s iconic UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopter.
The company on 29 January said a Black Hawk outfitted with two GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engines has completed a series of ground runs at Sikorsky’s flight development centre in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Sikorsky says the ground trials were used to verify engine health and full system functionality, setting up the new powerplant for a full airworthiness evaluation programme.
“The test demonstrated the T901’s start-to-fly progression, including idle and fly modes, with the rotor brake disengaged, marking a significant step toward the programme’s goal of delivering a more powerful and efficient engine for the next-generation Black Hawk,” Sikorsky notes.
Pilots from both Sikorsky and the US Army were involved in the event.
All of the aircraft’s critical systems were assessed during the tests, including fuel, electrical, hydraulic and flight control systems. Subsequent test events will include hovering and forward flight, Sikorsky notes.
The milestone marks the first time that a Black Hawk has been powered up with the new turboshaft engine.
GE Aerospace developed the T901 under contract from the US Army, which plans to overhaul its fleet of Black Hawks and Boeing AH-64 attack helicopters with the new powerplant.
The T901 was also intended to power the army’s now-cancelled Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA), with prototype examples of the turboshaft engine delivered to competitors Bell and Sikorsky in 2023 before the programme was scrapped in 2024.
Sikorsky has previously completed T901 ground runs using the company’s FARA prototype – the coaxial Raider X. Those evaluations in 2024 marked the first time the prototype rotorcraft had “turned rotors”, according to the company.
That test event was also the first instance of a T901 being ignited inside an actual aircraft, rather than a ground test stand.
The army cancelled the FARA programme before either Bell or Sikorsky had a chance to begin flight trials. Both companies say there are no plans to fly the experimental rotorcraft, of which the army retains ownership.
Although those designs may never see use, the T901 engine designed to power them will still deliver substantial benefits to the army’s fleet of legacy aircraft.
“A modernised Black Hawk fleet will create new operational opportunities for the army by extending the capabilities of a proven, fielded fleet to travel farther on less fuel and with more troops and cargo,” says Hamid Salim, vice-president of army and air force systems at Sikorsky.
The new 3,000shp (2,240kW) T901 engine will increase the UH-60’s available power by 50%, Sikorsky notes, while also improving fuel efficiency. The Black Hawk’s current GE Aerospace T700 powerplant offers 2,000shp.
That extra payload will help enable another US Army priority – the fielding of a new generation of autonomous air-launched systems that can be used to provide reconnaissance, electronic warfare, communications and lethal strike support to air crews and ground troops.
The army calls the new family of systems Launched Effects. Several demonstration events in recent years have already tested the concept, pairing a UH-60 with the Altius small UAV – now made by Anduril.
Sikorsky is engaged in a number of Black Hawk modernisation efforts, most notably the development of an autonomous flight package that enables the helicopter to operate as a so-called Optionally Piloted Vehicle (OPV).
The company has already completed a number of flight demonstrations, including sorties without a pilot onboard, using an older, company-owned UH-60A modified with an autonomous flight package that Sikorsky calls Matrix.
Achieving pilotless flight involves required fitting the conventionally rotorcraft with a new fly-by-wire flight-control system, a separate flight computer to manage autonomous operations and a suite of sensors to provide data to that computer.
As its name implies, the optionally piloted Black Hawk retains its conventional flight controls, allowing for operations in the standard two-pilot configuration, with a reduced crew of one or completely unmanned.
Sikorsky logged the first fully autonomous sortie with the OPV Black Hawk in 2022, including two flights without any pilot onboard. Previous tests had included a human aviators as a safety back-up.
That flexibility gives army commanders additional options for high-risk missions like battlefield resupply and casualty evacuation, particularly when enemy activity makes it too dangerous to send a fully-crewed helicopter into harm’s way.
In 2024, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Sikorsky a $6 million contract to install the Matrix autonomous flight package into one of the US Army’s newer UH-60Ms.
That aircraft will be designated the UH-60MX for testing and evaluation.
