Northrop Grumman Corporation in partnership with the US Army Prototype Integration Facility and prime contractor Redstone Defense Systems, has successfully completed the first flight of the UH-60V Black Hawk helicopter.

Northrop Grumman provided the integrated avionics suite for the UH-60V, which upgrades the US Army’s UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters with a digital cockpit, under a contract awarded in 2014. The scalable, fully integrated and open architecture-based cockpit design replaces older analog gauges with digital electronic instrument displays in the upgraded aircraft. The UH-60V features one of the Army’s most advanced avionics solutions, enabling the complex missions of the Army Aviation warfighter.

On January 19, the UH-60V Black Hawk successfully flew for the first time with this digitised cockpit in Huntsville. This important milestone was the culmination of a cockpit design and development effort that was completed on schedule within 29 months of the original contract award. The team’s accomplishment achieves the specific timeline set by Army leadership over two years prior to the first flight. The UH-60V Black Hawk programme will modernise the Army’s fleet of UH-60L helicopters through cost-effective cockpit upgrades. The new system is nearly identical to the UH-60M pilot-vehicle interface, providing common training and operational employment.