Bahrain takes delivery of first Black Hawk helicopter

The Royal Bahrain Air Force will fly the aircraft for military operations that include protection of sovereign borders as well as protection and defense of U.S. and coalition strategic facilities.
 
“The Bahrain Air Force is getting a powerful tool in the UH-60M  helicopter,” said Doug Shidler, Sikorsky Vice President, U.S. Government Programs. “The sophistication and capabilities of this aircraft will greatly enhance the Bahrain military’s ability, and will serve their country well for years to come.”
 
Bahrain officials signed the U.S. Army Letter of Offer and Acceptance on May 7, 2007, to purchase the nine helicopters through a Foreign Military Sale (FMS), the first such sale for the UH-60M aircraft.  The aircraft are being completed at Sikorsky’s Military Derivatives Completion Center in Horsesheads, N.Y. Deliveries are scheduled to continue into 2010.
 
The UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter is a twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter designed to a U.S. Army requirement to carry an 11-man squad and four-man crew under combat conditions. Sikorsky Aircraft has been manufacturing the helicopter for the U.S. Army since 1978. It is the latest and the most advanced helicopter to be fielded to the U.S. Army with improved engines, revolutionary rotor blade design, improved durability transmission system, advanced digital avionics and an integrated “glass” cockpit.