The US Government has agreed to sell 15 Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (or FMV, which is the Swedish acronym) for operation by the Swedish Armed forces. The transaction, announced Monday, will take place under the US Government's Foreign Military Sales program, and represents the introduction of the latest and most technologically advanced Black Hawk model into Europe
The Swedish Armed Forces will use the aircraft for medical evacuation, utility, and search and rescue missions. Sikorsky is slated to deliver six of the helicopters in 2011 and the remaining nine in 2012 under an accelerated production schedule. Sweden is a member of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
"We're honored to support the Swedish Armed Forces, and we congratulate them for being the first European Union nation to choose this highly evolved UH-60M aircraft, which is part of a lineage of aircraft that have proven themselves countless times under the most extreme conditions all over the world," said Mick Maurer, President of Sikorsky Military Systems.