Army adds $234M in undefinitized contract funding for Black Hawk deal

An aircrew with Charlie Company, 1-137th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade, prepares a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter for takeoff in the 28th ECAB's area of operations in the Middle East in 2021. (Photo by Capt. Travis Mueller, 28th Expeditionary Combat Aviation Brigade.)

WASHINGTON — The Army has awarded Lockheed Martin’s helicopter subsidiary Sikorsky an additional $234 million in an undefined contract action (UCA) for an initial 16 Black Hawk UH-60 helicopters, the service and the company announced today.

The total contact value is now worth $356 million. The news comes as Sikorsky’s 10th multiyear deal, awarded in 2022 by the Arm y, is set to c onclude by the end of 2027. The company plans to start delivering the 16 aircraft to the Army when the current multiyear deal ends, Rich Benton, Sikorsky’s vice president and general manager told reporters ahead of the Army’s announcement.

“The next agreement will not only continue the active production line we have today, but it’s also going to set the infrastructure and the foundation for the Black Hawk that’s going to come,” Benton said. “Our focus has always been to provide the most effective and capable Black Hawk to our customers when they need it to execute the missions they need, and the contract structure we have come to an agreement [with] the Army is absolutely going to deliver this ”

Th e award is undefinitized, meaning dollar values and quantities could change as negotiations continue. Wit h these contract vehicles, the Pentagon does not have to wait for a final definitized deal, and the vendor can get started on production even if there are roadblocks in the congressional appropriations process.

Jason Wrigley, director of business development at Sikorsky, said the 16 initial aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to the Army in fiscal 2028. After the UCA is definitized, Benton said he predicts there could be as many as 150 aircraft as part of the deal over the next three to four years, with some of those going to the National Guard and foreign military sales as well. The initial 16 aircraft are being funded by leftover fiscal 2025 and 2026 appropriations, Wrigley said.

One of Sikorsky’s goals with the new agreement is to be “flexibl e,” Benton said, and be able to have a quick turnaround time in delivering the aircraft. Hence, he said, the company has already begun ordering hardware that has long lead times and the company is already in the subassembly process — when the manufacturing of a complete product is broken up into smaller processes — “to make sure there’s no break in production.”

“We met the Army where they needed to be, right. They needed us to be agile. They needed us to contract quickly, and they needed [us] to maintain continuous production, which to us was a priority,” Benton said.

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Today’s announcement comes after the president’s FY27 budget request included $39 million for a single UH-60M Black Hawk, as opposed to last year’s request which was $913 million. The House’ s version of the National Defense Authorization Ac t, passed in July, ad ds $250 million to that request to procure six additional UH-60Ms. Its defense appropriations bill, if approved, would add $493 million to procure additional aircraft, with exact quantities unspecified. The Senat e has yet to pass its version of the NDAA, but the Senate Armed Services Committee’s draft version adheres to the president’s request. Despite a dramatic decrease in requested funds, Army senior leaders have since said that the service is not “ getting rid ” of its existing fleet of helos, including the Black Hawks.

2021年，第28远征战斗航空旅第1-137突击直升机营C连的机组人员在第28远征战斗航空旅位于中东的作战区域内，准备一架UH-60黑鹰直升机起飞。（照片由第28远征战斗航空旅特拉维斯·穆勒上尉拍摄。）

华盛顿——美国陆军和洛克希德·马丁公司旗下的直升机子公司西科斯基今天宣布，陆军已在未定义合同行动 (UCA) 中额外授予该公司 2.34 亿美元，用于采购首批 16 架黑鹰 UH-60 直升机。

该合同总价值现已达到3.56亿美元。与此同时，西科斯基公司与美国陆军于2022年签订的第十份多年期合同将于2027年底到期。西科斯基公司副总裁兼总经理里奇·本顿在陆军正式宣布该消息前告诉记者，公司计划在当前多年期合同到期后开始向陆军交付这16架飞机。

“下一份协议不仅会延续我们现有的生产线，还将为未来的黑鹰直升机项目奠定基础设施和基础，”本顿说道。“我们始终致力于在客户需要时，为其提供最有效、性能最强的黑鹰直升机，以执行他们所需的任务。我们与陆军达成的合同结构绝对能够实现这一目标。”

该合同尚未最终确定，这意味着金额和数量可能会随着谈判的进行而发生变化。借助这些合同机制，五角大楼无需等待最终协议的达成，即使国会拨款程序受阻，供应商也可以立即开始生产。

西科斯基公司业务发展总监杰森·里格利表示，首批16架飞机计划于2028财年交付陆军。本顿表示，在无人机联合行动（UCA）最终敲定后，他预测未来三到四年内，该协议下可能包含多达150架飞机，其中一部分将交付国民警卫队，一部分将用于对外军售。里格利称，首批16架飞机的资金来自2025财年和2026财年的剩余拨款。

本顿表示，西科斯基公司签署新协议的目标之一是保持“灵活性”，并能够快速交付飞机。因此，他表示，公司已经开始订购交货周期较长的硬件，并且已经进入子装配流程——即将完整产品的制造过程分解成更小的工序——“以确保生产不中断”。

“我们满足了陆军的需求，没错。他们需要我们灵活应变，需要我们快速签订合同，需要我们保持持续生产，这对我们来说至关重要，”本顿说道。

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在总统2027财年预算申请中，仅拨款3900万美元用于采购一架UH-60M“黑鹰”直升机，而去年预算申请为9.13亿美元。今天，总统宣布了这一消息。众议院7月通过的《国防授权法案》在此基础上增加了2.5亿美元，用于采购另外六架UH-60M直升机。如果众议院的国防拨款法案获得通过，还将增加4.93亿美元用于采购更多飞机，但具体数量尚未确定。参议院尚未通过其版本的《国防授权法案》，但参议院军事委员会的草案与总统的要求一致。尽管预算申请大幅减少，但陆军高级领导人表示，陆军不会“放弃”其现有的直升机机队，包括“黑鹰”直升机。