ATHENS, GREECE — The Greek Army Aviation and special forces want new helicopters. On April 5th, the Council of the Chiefs of General Staff announced that the central theme of armaments was a positive proposal to the political leadership for the acquisition of new helicopters.
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In particular, LoR for 24+11 new UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters for all operational needs of Army Aviation and Special Warfare Command of GEETHA will be sent in the next few days.
According to exclusive information from Greek media, the Hellenic Air Force [HAF] has expressed reservations about the final choice, with the opinion that the aviation staff should consider every possible option, whether American or European [Leonardo, Airbus].
HAF recommended the possible replacement of the AB-205 helicopters but was reserved about the type it would choose, as GEA officials are currently conducting a study of all available options and have not settled on a specific helicopter type, evaluating each option against the satisfaction of search and rescue and combating search and rescue needs.
In contrast, the Air Force and Special Operations Command did not conduct market research and review all available options and directly chose the US UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter solution. After all, this is also a tangible difference compared to the HAF’s proposal to today’s Council of Chiefs of the General Staff.
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk is a four-blade, twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter manufactured by Sikorsky Aircraft. Currently, dozens of countries are operators of this helicopter, but Greece is not. If a positive response is reached from the US, this will be the first purchase of the UH-60M Blackhawk for Greece.
The helicopter is operated by a crew of four – two pilots and two crew chiefs/gunners. Maximum flight speed is 159 kn [183 mph, 294 km/h], while cruise speed is 152 kn [175 mph, 282 km/h]. The UH-60M has a combat range of 320 nmi [370 mi, 590 km]. The helicopter can be armed with two 7.62 mm [0.30 in] M240 machine guns, two 7.62 mm [0.30 in] M134 miniguns, or two 12.7 mm [0.50 in] GAU-19 gatling guns.
The UH-60M has four hardpoints, two of which are for ESSS stub wings. This helicopter can be armed with 70 mm [2.75 in] Hydra 70 unguided rockets and carry either AGM-114 Hellfire laser-guided air-to-ground missiles or AIM-92 Stinger heat-seeking air-to-air missiles per hardpoint. Additionally, the helicopter can be equipped with the VOLCANO minefield dispersal system.
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