Black Hawk Top Speed: How Fast Is The Military Helicopter?

The Black Hawk is a family of utility helicopters made by Sikorsky, a company owned by Lockheed Martin. One of the mainstays of the U.S. Army, it is extensively used by the U.S. military as a medium-lift utility transport helicopter as well as an air assault aircraft.

With more than 5,000 helicopters built and delivered since its 1979 inception, the Black Hawk has proven its mettle as a reliable workhorse. The U.S. Army has a fleet of over 2,100 Black Hawk helicopters. Other militaries that operate Black Hawk Helicopters include the Australian military, the South Korean Armed Forces, the Japanese military, and the Colombian Armed Forces.

The helicopter is named after Black Hawk, a Native American war leader, continuing the U.S. Army's tradition of naming helicopters after significant Native American figures — other examples include the Apache and Chinook.

Today, the Black Hawk exists in several variants, the most notable being the UH-60 Black Hawk and the S-70 Black Hawk. While they have different designations, the key distinction is their purpose. While the UH-60 series is tailored specifically for military use, the S-70 serves as the commercial variant, catering to civilian and international military customers.

Despite these variations, all Black Hawk helicopters share a platform, utilizing the same engines, rotors, stabilizers, and controls. As a result, their top speed and maximum cruise speed are near-identical, ranging between 140 knots and 163 knots, depending on the variants.

Given that there are several variants of Black Hawk helicopters in existence, there are slight differences in the maximum speeds that could be achieved by each.

The commercial variant of the helicopter — the Sikorsky Black Hawk S-70 — which has a maximum gross weight (GW) of 22,000 lb, can achieve a maximum speed of 163 knots (302 km/hr or 187 mph).

The maximum cruise speed of the model — the safest speed at which it can effortlessly cruise — is much lower at 145 knots, which translates to 166 mph (or 268 km/hr). To eke maximum efficiency out of the aircraft, Sikorsky recommends an economy cruise speed of 128 knots; or 147 mph (237 km/hr).

Coming to the military-spec UH-60 variants of the Black Hawk, the maximum cruise speed slightly varies between the UH-60A, UH-60L and UH-60M models. For those unaware, the UH-60A variant of the Black Hawk is the original production version produced between 1977 and 1989. The UH-60L variant came next with several upgrades and was produced between 1989 and 2007. The newest variant of the helicopter is the UH-60M.

While the UH-60A variant has a maximum cruise speed of 140 knots (161 mph, 259 km/hr), the UH-60L is rated to go up to 155 knots (178 mph, 278 km/hr). The UH-60M variant of the Black Hawk has a slightly lower cruise speed of 151 knots (173 mph, 279 km/hr).