Greece has finalised a purchase of 35 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters from Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, as part of a U.S. Foreign Military Sale.
The contract, secured after a government-to-government agreement in April 2024, includes training, equipment, and an initial provisioning package to support the Hellenic Army’s operational needs.
Hamid Salim, Sikorsky’s Vice President of Army and Air Force Systems, commented on the longstanding relationship, stating, “Our partnership with Greece spans decades, and we are pleased to see the nation’s continued trust in Sikorsky helicopters as Greece will benefit from an integrated Hawk family of aircraft supporting national security and humanitarian missions.”
Costas Papadopoulos, Lockheed Martin’s Executive Director of International Business Development for Greece, highlighted the Black Hawk’s role in Greece’s expanding fleet, adding, “The Black Hawk helicopter is the workhorse of multi-mission medium lift aircraft and will enable Greece to perform key operations in the region. These helicopters will join Greece’s upgraded F-16Vs, new MH-60Rs, existing F-16s, C-130s, and S-70Bs, as well as future F-35s.”
The company say that the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, used by 36 countries globally, are valued for their versatility and capability in challenging conditions. With this acquisition, Greece becomes the 12th European nation to operate Black Hawks.
I’m not sure 35 BHs will make much difference either way?
Surely it will to the Greeks?
I thought that the Greeks retained a decent sized military due to their strained relations with Turkey. 35 F35s might deter the Turks a bit – but I would say they need far more BHs to make much difference.
No expert but they’ve probably got more than us?
The BHs are not meant to be a deterrent – they are a battlefield taxi.
F-35 on the other hand? – well, now you’re talking.
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This is on top of the BHs they already operate!
How many medium helicopters have we got?🤔
I don’t think the Greeks operate any Blackhawks, these are to replace their Hueys.
Just checked before mate they have S70 and MR 60.
Ah seen. Second batch. Still replacing Hueys though, so capability uplift not number uplift.
Yep didn’t realise the others were navy👍
Source Defence Blog
More than Greece. And we deploy ours far from home.
Are you including Chinook in the medium category?
I don’t recall saying anything about deployments🤔
Nope.
Sorry I was really referring to the number. 35 of anything is not an optimal number. 70 I could understand or even 135. Greece is not a small place with many islands and many potential roles. 35 just looks like the bean counters have said how many can we afford – ok thats how many we will get.
Might outnumber the RAF’s new medium helicopter contract at this rate. This is big for such a small economy relative to Western Europe. For context the Puma force is 16 airframes.
Any update on the Medium Helicopter decision for the UK? Has it been frozen, postponed or cancelled?
I read previously it will be reviewed again under the SDR so expect nothing confirmed until next year. Also read it could be the victim of cuts in the same SDR but that and 50p will buy you a cup of coffee, so who knows.
Includes training and spares, reportedly at just shy of $2bn. About $56m each.
Originally NMH was expected to have whole life costs of £1.1bn for 44 helicopters (£25m each). Over this last year this went up to £1.3bn after it was delayed for three years, then following a reduction in the numbers to around 30 almost all the bidders dropped out. The comparison with Greece shows we expect to get too much for too little, and even when we have a great deal we screw it up with delays and number reduction, turning the process into a procurement death spiral.
Our numbers of Puma2 today and future medium lift helicopter are woefully inadequate to the needs of its core customer. The Black Hawk is a fantastic airframe.
I agree – I’d take the BH for our NMH requirement any day. It’s tried and tested and maybe we could look at some refurbished/gently used ‘one careful owner’ airframes from the US given money is extremely tight. We’d get more of them and get them in service a lot quicker that way too.
Sometimes off the shelf is the way to go – cheaper and in service quicker and I think the MoD really would benefit from adopting this approach more often. There definitely is a time and place for bespoke tailor made solutions but not always – the NMH project being one.
Agree – used throughout NATO so commonality in training, spares as well as TTPs. Flew with them on a number of tactical instruction exercises – superb. Why go anywhere else?