DoD Program Will Provide UH-60V Cockpit Redesign for Helicopters Throughout Armed Services

Northrop Grumman has been tapped to provide its engineering services for a Department of Defense program to modernize the UH-60V. 

The 5-year program falls under the Information Analysis Center’s (DoD IAC)'s multiple-award contract vehicle, where Grumman will assist with the KBR-led effort to refine the helicopter's flight deck to provide decades of useful service life. The Blackhawk has long been a mainstay of America's rotary wing aircraft stable, a known quantity and trustworthy workhorse in need of some TLC to stay abreast of avionics advancements. 

The aim will be to 'create new knowledge for the enhancement of the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) repository, R&D, science and technology communities.' A comprehensive digital cockpit redesign will see the aging, legacy instrumentation of the common UH-60L replaced with a "fully open and integrated avionics suite". 

The architecture bound for the Victor model will prove useful in not just the current fleet of helicopters in US service, but a range of aircraft expected under the Future Vertical Lift program.The IAC project should help to renovate the flight decks in Apache, Black Hawk, and Chinook aircraft in due time, too. 

“We are exploring a wide range of capabilities that will keep the UH-60V relevant in the multi-domain operations environment of the future,” said Lindsay McEwen, vice president, navigation, targeting and survivability, Northrop Grumman. “Our modular, open architecture approach makes it possible to rapidly integrate enhanced capabilities.”

FMI: www.northropgrumman.com