Ukraine's Armed Forces are exploring options to modernize the Army Aviation helicopter fleet with American-made UH-60 Black Hawks. While the focus appears to be largely on acquiring pre-owned aircraft, Norway's latest potential purchase provides an opportunity to examine the cost of buying brand-new helicopters.
The comparison comes following a new U.S. approval for the potential sale of 21 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to Norway. The proposed deal, under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, has an estimated value of $2.3 billion.
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The package includes considerably more than the helicopters themselves. It also covers a wide range of equipment required to operate and support the aircraft.
This includes 46 engines, with each helicopter requiring two, as well as components for 25 sets of infrared and radar warning systems, navigation equipment, communications systems, identification friend or foe (IFF) equipment, and other related systems.
The proposed armament package includes machine guns, such as 18 7.62 mm M240H machine guns, an unspecified number of 7.62 mm M134 Miniguns, and 14.5 mm M3M (GAU-21) heavy machine guns.
As is typical for FMS packages, the deal also includes logistics and maintenance support, technical documentation, helmets and other crew equipment, spare parts, logistics equipment, specialized tools, and other supporting services.
Taking the entire package into account, a rough calculation puts the average cost at approximately $109.5 million per UH-60M. This is a substantial figure, especially when compared with some European alternatives.
Romania previously paid €852 million, or approximately $993.8 million, for 12 slightly larger European H225 helicopters. That works out to around $82.8 million per aircraft.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom paid £1 billion, or approximately $1.34 billion, for 23 somewhat smaller AW149 helicopters, equivalent to roughly $58.3 million per aircraft.
Such comparisons should, however, be treated with caution. The aircraft are delivered with different configurations, equipment packages, weapons, and support arrangements. It is also important to note that a U.S. State Department approval represents the maximum potential value of a proposed FMS deal. The final contract value may therefore be lower.
At the same time, choosing American helicopters could make sense because of the Black Hawk's proven reliability, widespread use, and the possibility of greater commonality with Ukraine's naval aviation. Ukraine has already ordered MH-60R Seahawk helicopters for this purpose.
For Ukraine, however, the Norwegian example once again demonstrates that purchasing new Black Hawks would require significant funding. It is therefore unsurprising that Ukraine is currently looking primarily at pre-owned aircraft. At the same time, Bell has proposed localizing the production of UH-1Y and AH-1Z helicopters in Ukraine.
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