Sikorsky, a helicopter manufacturer and a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Company, delivered the 1,000th H-60M Black Hawk helicopter to the US Army in a ceremony held in Stratford, Connecticut (USA).

Sikorsky delivered the first UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter in 2007 and the first HH-60M Medevac helicopter in 2008. The ceremony marked the delivery of the 792nd UH-60M and the 208th HH-60M helicopters.

The newest models feature more powerful engines than older variants, a new airframe, avionics and propulsion system, improved rotor blades, a digital cockpit, and an autopilot among other modern enhancements.

Currently, there are 2,135 H-60 Black Hawk helicopters in service, making the Army's Black Hawk helicopter fleet the largest flying fleet of all the services. The Army fleet of Black Hawk helicopters of all models has flown nearly nine million flight hours, many of them in combat.

The US Air Force, National Guard, Army Reserve and 10 militaries throughout the world fly H-60M model aircraft. US Government agencies including the Department of State, Customs & Border Protection and the Federal Bureau of Investigation also are operators.

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The UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter has been purchased by several international militaries, through the US Government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. The US Army has active H-60M Black Hawk programs with Bahrain, Jordan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.