Sikorsky EH-60A Quick Fix II helicopter - development history, photos, technical data

The Army also acquired examples of two electronic warfare (EW) Blackhawk variants, designated EH-60A and EH-60B. Development of the former began in October 1980 when Sikorsky was awarded an Army contract to modify one UH-60A (probably 79-23301) for evaluation under the Quick Fix II EW programme. The modifications included preparation of the airframe for later installation of the AN/ALQ-151 multi-role tactical EW system, the addition of four dipole antennae mounted in pairs on either side of the tailboom, and the installation of a deployable whip antenna beneath the aft section of the main cabin. The EH-60A was also equipped with the AN/ALQ-144 infrared countermeasures set and flare/chaff dispensers in addition to the standard AN/APR-39(V)1 radar warning receiver. The YEH-60A EW Blackhawk flew for the first time in September 1981, and in October 1984 the Tracor Aerospace Group won an Army contract for the conversion of forty UH-60A to EH-60A standard. Flight testing of a planned 132 production -A model EW Blackhawks began in April 1986, though budget restraints ultimately led the Army to acquire only 66 production machines. The last of these was delivered in September 1989, and soon afterwards the type's designation was changed from EH-60A to EH-60C.

While the EH-60C is intended to locate, classify and disrupt enemy signals traffic, the EH-60B was developed specifically to carry the Stand-Off Target Acquisition System (SOTAS) radar. The EH-60B was characterized by the long box-shaped SOTAS scanner mounted below the main cabin, and was equipped with backward-retracting main landing gear legs to allow the SOTAS antenna to rotate a full 360 degrees in flight. The sole EH-60B prototype made its maiden flight in February 1981, but the SOTAS development programme was cancelled the following September and the aircraft was subsequently converted to EH-60A/C standard.

Technical data for EH-60A

Crew: 4-5, main rotor diameter: 16.38m, fuselage length: 15.26m, height: 5.13m, take-off weight: 9980kg, cruising speed: 237km/h, hovering ceiling, OGE: 3170m, range: 600km

Serg, e-mail, 27.01.2022

Chris deveney

Are EH-60A /L still in service in the army now???? And why the EH-60 was not integrated with the Profit complex. Profit had to be integrated with Shadow-200

Serg, e-mail, 27.01.2022

Chris deveney

Are EH-60A /L still in service in the army now???? And why the EH-60 was not integrated with the Profit complex. Profit had to be integrated with Shadow-200

Serg, e-mail, 27.01.2022

Chris deveney

Are EH-60A /L still in service in the army now???? And why the EH-60 was not integrated with the Profit complex. Profit had to be integrated with Shadow-200

Ezzy Black, e-mail, 24.02.2022

Serg

No, all existing EH-60A aircraft were removed from service and converted back to UH-60A specifications in 2003.

Ezzy Black, e-mail, 24.02.2022

Doug

Oh wow. I was an intel operator on EH-60s for nine years. And, well, I actually crashed in 571.

This was in 1995 and 571 was delivered the the CEWI plt of the 3rd ID at Hunter Army Airfield GA as a supplemental aircraft. Basically this happened during the draw-down of the 90's when many units were being deactivated. The EH-60s from those units were allocated to units remaining in service. I don't know what unit it was originally assigned to.

An incorrect push-pull tube was installed on the hydraulic deck resulting in the cyclic control locking up at a 100' hover. The resulting crash snapped off the right main landing gear and did some rather hefty damage to the belly as well as all 4 main rotor blades.

I never knew the status of it after it was hauled away. We assumed it would be repaired at a depot somewhere, but an entirely different helicopter was given to us shortly after.

I cannot give you any more history on it, the birds we flew in Desert Shield /Storm were our original aircraft, 24659, 572 and 574.

Chris deveney, e-mail, 29.01.2022

Doug

Dont have miszion history but i was on the quick fix 2 modification out of mojave,can try to dig up pics

Doug, e-mail, 29.01.2022

Chris deveney

Thx Chris for your help with the two EH60s....

Doug

Chris Cookson, e-mail, 24.04.2022

Michael Nolen

Mike - I think our paths crossed at Huachuca. Please reach out some time if you'd like to reconnect.

Hugh Tomlinson, e-mail, 09.04.2021

Mike White

Was VHFS you referred to Vint Hill Farms? I was there in 68-70 after returning from Viet Nam. Was a pretty decent place to be stationed then.

Ezzy Black, e-mail, 24.02.2022

Dr. Stephen Spies

As an operator and platoon sergeant with EH-60s for nine years I feel you missed the whole point of the aircraft. Making it larger and placing it in a CH-47 with additional operators etc removes the capability from the maneuver division which it was designed for. Indeed, during those 9 years I needed to only look across the tarmac at Hunter Army Airfield to see the fleet of RC-12 Guardrail aircraft the performed the mission you envision rather admirably (and still do).

To put it in perspective During Desert Storm the only SIGINT and EW capability available to the 24th Infantry Division was it's 3 EH-60s. No ground assets could hope to keep pace with the battle and indeed, they arrived two days after the war was over. One EH-60 of the three was literally in the air for the entire 100 hours.

No aircraft in the entire division came even close to the hours flown by EH-60s during the entirety of Desert Shield /Storm.

Mission duration was never an issue as FARPs were always available. While it did cause short breaks for hot-gas we simply went right back on station. Missions went for as long as we were allowed to fly in a day, 8 hours.

An EH-60 was a team. Those crazy intel guys in the back know what to do with them. It was generally understood that the pilots flew where we told them to, until they told us no. That is if there was some reason the aircraft could not be operated safely or within it's flight parameters the pilots had veto power. It was understood that the pilots had a fairly limited amount of training in what we were trying to accomplish.

Terry Flink, e-mail, 20.06.2021

Dr. Stephen Spies

As a new 2LT right out of flight school, I fielded the Quickfix Platoon for the 4th ID at Ft. Carson in the early 90s. We were the first Blackhawks in the division. Back then 4th ID was near the bottom of DoDs list and was near the bottom of the list to receive new equipment. There were Guard and Reserve units with higher priority than us. It was cool to be the first Blackhawks in the division, but the lack of maintenance support and infrastructure made it challenging. As mentioned above, my platoon was rarelytasked to perform the true Quickfix mission because of a lack of understanding by the Military Intelligence unit, my Aviation Regiment and even myself and fellow aviators. Most frequently we were a flying "re-trans" station to improve radio communications between aviation units performing other missions.

The Quickfix course at Ft. Huachuca taught us about the airframe, mission equipment and mission planning. We left knowing how to perform the mission but with little understanding of why to perform the mission. Add to that the limitations of the EH-60A in many ways made the aircraft impractical for the mission. That said, the members of my platoon did have a higher level of knowledge about employing the EH-60s because of our training and it was our job to try to educate those that would task us with our missions. Generally speaking O-5s and O-6s don't want to listen to brand new LTs.
And honestly, a young aviator like myself didn't want to be "boring holes in the sky".

Hugh Tomlinson, e-mail, 09.04.2021

Dr. Stephen Spies

This has a familiar ring to it. In 1967-68 I was at Da Nang supporting the RU-8D aircraft supporting 3rd Marine Division with Airborne Direction Finding. I think the design theory was, if there is room for it will fit. We flew four hour missions with a fifteen minute fuel reserve. Phantoms had wait for us to take off, and then another few minutes for us to clear the airspace so that they didn't run over us. They probably used more fuel waiting for us than we burned in four hours. If I remember correctly a Beechcraft rep refused to fly in our of out planes because he claimed that it was too heavy to fly. Bit we flew four mission every morning and four more every afternoon.
We were successful enough that the Navy awarded us a Meritorious Unit Citation for our support of 3rd Marine. The plane could not get much over 10,000 feet or fly faster than 126 Knots if memory serves me correctly. The RU-21 arrived a year late as I was leaving country.
They were interesting times!

Andrew Rodriguez, e-mail, 04.01.2022

Hugh Tomlinson

Hi Hugh, sounds like you were in the 138th? John Saunders told us a funny story about you "acquiring" lumber! :)

Join us on Facebook for 138th Veterans

Andy Rodriguez

Andrew Rodriguez, e-mail, 08.12.2021

Hugh Tomlinson

Hi Tom, sounds like you were in the 138th Avn Co (RR) would love to talk to you about your experience!

Andrew Rodriguez, e-mail, 08.12.2021

Hugh Tomlinson

Hi Tom, sounds like you were in the 138th Avn Co (RR) would love to talk to you about your experience!

Ezzy Black, e-mail, 24.02.2022

Terry Flink

We got around this by the simple expedient of requiring the EH-60 platoon leader to attend all MI BN staff meetings. He was always there reminding them that we worked for THEM and not the AVN BDE.

Did you have to have your aircraft modified for a re-trans capability? That seems odd to me unless the cockpit UHF radios always had the capability and I didn't know about it. Still, we would have never flown a mission for the aviation brigade. That just seems like a foreign concept.

SilentWarrior, e-mail, 14.02.2023

Ezzy Black

I was one of those crazy Intel guys in the back. Our rotor jocks knew the Intel mission sufficiently to utilize flight ops to ensure EW collection. As crew, missions were 12 hours, jockeys could OP for 8 hours daylight, 4 hours night ops. Crews could go 12 hours with pilot swaps. Mandatory service time.

QuickFix defenses were awesome and the pilots we worked with at 107th MI /7th ID (LIGHT) prior to, during, and after Desert Shield / Storm had great confidence in the airframe.

Stuart Clark, e-mail, 25.03.2022

Juan Saucedo

24657 wwas the aircraft I flew in from August '88 through November '91 including Desert Storm. Came to Germany summer of 1988 and the piots of 2ACR go to pick their air frames. 24577, 24657 and 24660 went to 4 /2 ACR.