Stratford’s Sikorky Aircraft Corp. has wrapped up a two-year demonstration flight program the aim of which is to sell copies of its AH-60 Battlehawk helicopter to military customers worldwide, including the Israeli Air Force.
Sikorsky Military Systems and Israel’s Elbit Systems Ltd. recently conducted demo flights in Israel using a reconfigured version of its famed UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to display the performance and weapons capabilities of the Battlehawk concept.
The demonstrations began in September 2008. Sikorsky did not say how much it has invested in showing the worthiness of its light attack helicopter program.
Sikorsky test pilot Bill Fell and an Israeli Air Force pilot performed live-fire exercises on a test range with the copter that can be armed with guns and missiles for combat or unarmed for troop transport and search and rescue and disaster relief missions.
Elbit is in charge of mission avionics and weapon systems integration.
So far, Sikorsky’s Battlehawk customers include the U.S. Army, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
