How much does a Black Hawk cost per hour

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated January 15, 2025

Contributions sourced from

How Much Does a Black Hawk Helicopter Cost?

The Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter is an iconic military helicopter of the United States military. Best known for its depiction in the Hollywood movie Black Hawk Down, it is a twin-engine, medium-lift utility helicopter with four rotor blades. The aircraft replaces the Bell UH-1 (Huey) Iroquois as the US Army frontline tactical helicopter and is one of the longest-production military helicopters (1979 to date).

Did you know the Black Hawk helicopters are one of the most expensive utility helicopters in service with the United States military? And Id bet you would want to know how much a Black Hawk cost. Well, prices of Black Hawk helicopters vary according to the models variant and role.

Continue reading to the end to learn more about how much a Black Hawk helicopter costs, the prices of the different Black Hawk variants, and how much it costs to keep a Black Hawk helicopter in the air.

How much does a Black Hawk cost new?

You dont generally find Black Hawk sticker prices advertised on newspaper pages, nor can you ring the manufacturer for a test flight. However, you might be interested to know that the cost of acquiring a new Black Hawk ranges between $5.9 million to over $25 million for special versions. Fully loaded variants of the Black Hawk sell for around $10 million.

If you must know, the price of a specially configured UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter can reach $25 million. On the other hand, you can buy several dozen UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters with standard configuration for only $5.9 apiece. So, how much you pay for a Black Hawk helicopter depends on the variant that suits your specific needs and how many units you can afford.

Lets look at the costs of the Armys UH-60L and the Air Forces HH-60G Pave Hawk variants of the UH-60 Black Hawk. Despite being developed from the same model, the UH-60L sells for $5.6 million (UH-60L), while the HH-60G has a $10.2 million price tag. The difference in the prices of these two variants is due primarily to each aircrafts capabilities, parts requirements, and R&D specifications.

If you think the Black Hawk helicopter cost is way too high. Perhaps you should check out the Apache helicopter, which has a hefty price tag ranging from $60 to $130 million.

How much do Black Hawk helicopters variants cost?

Anyone who has ever flown in a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter knows it is an amazing and versatile helicopter with several unique features enhancing its multi-role capabilities. Those unique features add to the cost of the aircraft, and Black Hawk variants typically have huge price differences depending on their roles.

We have a list of several Balck Hawk helicopter variants and their cost.

1. Cost of the UH-60L Black Hawk

Price: $6 million (estimated)
Crew: 4 (2 pilots, 2 crew chiefs)
Armament: 2x 7.62mm machine guns
Speed: 172.6 mph
Range: 368.3 miles
Max Load: 2,640 lbs (1,197 kg) or 11 combat-ready troops.

In 1989, Sikorsky Aircraft developed the UH-60L variant with upgraded engines, gearbox, and flight control system. It is fitted with the more powerful GE T700-GE-701D engine, which increases the UH-60 Ls payload by 1,000 Ibs to 9,000 lbs and its range to 320 nautical miles. A unique feature of this aircraft is a new hover IR Suppression System that cools engine exhaust gasses during forward or stationary flight. Other notable UH-60L Black Hawk variant upgrades include wide chord rotor blades, an enhanced tail boom, vibration absorbers, and stabilator.

A UH-60L Black Hawk costs $6 million. For this amount, you get a decently equipped utility helicopter capable of medical, supply, and transport missions. Operators of the UH-60L Black Hawk helicopter include the United States Army, the Brazilian Army, and the Mexican Air Force.

2. Cost of the HH-60 Pave Hawk

Price: $10.2 million
Crew: 4 (2 pilots, 2 special mission aviators/gunners)
Armament: 2 x 7.62mm machine guns or 2 x .50 caliber (12.7mm) heavy machine guns.
Speed: 222 mph
Range: 373 miles

When the air force needed to replace its aging fleet of HH-3E Jolly Green Giant utility helicopters. Sikorsky Aircraft took an HH-60 Black Hawk Army utility helicopter, upgraded its flight control system, installed the US Air Force PAVE (Precision Avionics Vectoring Equipment) electronics and renamed it the HH-60 Pave Hawk. This $10 million bird is a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family and features distinct flight controls, radar, and communication systems from conventional UH-60 Black Hawk variants.

These include:

Upgraded communication, navigation, and satellite systems.
Forward-looking radar for low-level nighttime missions.
Color weather radar.
Anti-icing engine and rotor systems for all-weather capability.
Retractable in-flight refueling probe.
Folding rotor blades.

The new HH-60 Pave Hawks prices start at $10.2 million, and you get a versatile helicopter capable of day or night troop insertion missions, personnel recovery, and search and rescue. Peacetime uses of the HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter include emergency medical evacuation, disaster relief operations, and counter-drug trafficking operations. The air forces of the United States and the Republic of Korea are the primary users of the Pave Hawk.

3. Cost of the HH-60M Black Hawk MEDEVAC

Price: $25 million (estimated)
Crew: 4 (2 pilots, 2 crew chiefs)
Speed: 161.9 mph
Range: 316.6 miles
Max Hovering Out of Ground Effect (HOGE) Gross Weight: 21, 414 lbs (9,635.2 kg)
Max Load: 6 Emergency Evacuation Litter (EEL), or 11 troops.

Although Sikorsky Aircraft built the HH-60M Black Hawk MEDEVAC to save lives, it created the ultimate military utility helicopter design. Developed from the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter as an Army medevac helicopter complete with an integrated medical evacuation mission equipment package (MEP) kit. Operators can repurpose the HH-60M Black Hawk to perform a variety of missions like cargo or troop transport, aerial resupply, search and rescue, wildfire suppression, and aerial surveillance.

The Sikorsky HH-60M MEDEVAC helicopter has upgraded engines and essential equipment, allowing it to perform its intended role effectively. These include,

A purpose-built medical interior with an integrated electronically operated litter system for six patients.
Onboard oxygen-generating unit for in-flight patient care.
Plastic-sealed bubble windows create a sterile environment.
An environmental control system includes an integrated ECG machine, suction machine, external electrical hoist, etc.

Developed primarily for the US Army, the HH-60M is operated by the US Navy and the United States Coast Guard. Other operators of the HH-60M include the Vermont National Guard and the South Dakota Army National Guard.

4. Cost of the Sikorsky VH-60N White Hawk

Price: $10.6 million (1988)
Crew: 3 or 4
Speed: 182.9 mph
Range: 1,379 miles
Max Load: 2,645 lbs (1,200 kg) or 6 passengers.

The Sikorsky SH-60 White Hawk was designed for the most powerful man on earth. Conceived as an executive transport aircraft for the President of the United States of America, the Sikorsky VH-60N White Hawk is one of the most recognizable and the most photographed helicopter in the world. It was developed from the UH-60 Black Hawk and the SH-60 Seahawk of the US Navy for day/night and all-weather operations. The VH-60 White Hawk is equipped with a state-of-art self-contained navigation system Traffic Collision Avoidance System TCAS, CSFIR sensors, and GPS.

Since the SH-60 White Hawk has no weapons, it is fitted with military-grade countermeasures against missile attacks. Nine White Hawk airframes were built, and all aircraft are operated by Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1) in MCAF Quantico, Virginia.

5. Cost of the UH-60J Black Hawk

Price: $14 million
Crew: 3
Armament: 1 7.62 mm (.30 in) Type 74 machine gun
Speed: 165 mph
Range: 363 miles
Maximum takeoff weight: 9,750 kg (21,495 lb)

Designed primarily for export, the Sikorsky UH-60J Black Hawk helicopter is a search and rescue variant of the UH-60L that is license-built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for the Japanese Air Self-Defence Forces (JASDF). Both Sikorsky Aircraft and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries collaborated to design and produce the aircraft with key components license-built by Japanese manufacturers.

Special features include:

External fuel tanks.
External rescue winch.
A FLIR turret in the nose.
Bubble side windows for observation.

About forty UH-60J Black Hawk helicopter units are in service with the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. Each unit costs about $14 million, and several upgrades were added to the Japanese-built Black Hawks over time.

Cost of the civilian Black Hawk

During the 1980s, Sikorsky Aircraft developed a civilian version of the UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopter for oil and gas offshore exploration. Introduced in 1998, the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter cost around $27 million, and it competed with European helicopters like the Aerospatiale/Eurocopter Super Puma.

Sikorsky Aircraft marketed the S-92 helicopter as a civilian Black Hawk, and the aircraft has similar flight controls and rotor systems to the UH-60 military versions. Sikorsky engineers modified the S-92 aluminum and composite fuselage to improve its flight stability and seating capacity. The S-92 search and rescue variants got a larger cabin door for better exit/entry.

How much does a decommissioned Black Hawk helicopter cost?

Decommissioned UH-60 Black Hawk military helicopters are in high demand in the civilian utility helicopter industry. Although prices vary per aircraft year, variant, and flight hours, expect to pay between $3 million and $7 million for a non-military UH-60 Black Hawk in decent condition. An online listing for a restomod Sikorsky UH-60L with a 2007 manufacture date and 2,200 flight hours has an asking price of $5,995,000. You can have an older Black Hawk model for much less, and a UH-60A Black Hawk is listed for lease on JetLease for $3 million.

Photo by SKIP ROBINSON

Since it was first released to the civilian market in 2014, the Black Hawk has proved to be a favorite among helicopter operators as the most reliable aircraft in the eight-thousand-pound lifting capacity class.

The most common civilian uses for non-military Black Hawk include

Firefighting operations.
Search and rescue.
Disaster relief.
Cargo transport.
VIP passenger transport.

The General Services Administration (GSA), which handles all surplus goods for the US government, has sold one hundred and twelve UH-60A Black Hawk helicopters to civilian buyers, with several expected Black Hawk helicopter deliveries during the next few years.

How much does a Black Hawk helicopter cost to operate?

High operating costs are a significant disadvantage of military helicopters, but the UH-60 bucks the trend with lower hourly operating costs than other US Army attack and utility helicopters. For example, the UH-60 Black Hawk costs $3,116 per hour to operate despite being able to transport around a dozen troops into combat. In comparison, the CH-47 Chinook costs $4,600 per hour to fly, while the Boeing V-22 Osprey costs $11,000 per hour to fly.

The navalized MH-60R Seahawk variant is equipped with specialized radar and other equipment, thus its higher hourly operating cost of $14,555 per hour. The US Airforces HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter has the highest hourly operating costs of $24,475.

Conclusion

We hope you have a pretty good idea of how much does a Black Hawk helicopter cost. The price of a brand-new UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter starts from $5.9 million and can reach $24 million for mission-specific variants. Civilian versions of the Black Hawk helicopter are more expensive, with an average price of $27 million. Whichever version of the Black Hawk helicopter you choose, you can be assured of owning a reliable and cost-effective multi-mission helicopter for all weather operations.

Military helicopters play an indispensable role in the modern militarys sea, land and air operations. For those pilots who fly military helicopters, and the crew members who work on helicopters, we can express our gratitude by giving them military challenge coins. Wit, courage, tenacity and decisiveness are their most admirable qualities. We can customize military challenge coins in GS-JJ with their names or numbers, and pictures of helicopters and other elements. The durability and quality of these military coins will forever commemorate the contributions of these airmen and aircrews to the cause of the nations military.

How Much Does a Black Hawk Helicopter Cost?

The Black Hawk Helicopter is the most dangerous Helicopter by US Army that is popularly used for air assaults, air cavalry, and aeromedical evacuations.

Its a four-blade twin-engine, medium-lift utility military helicopter that a popular company Sikorsky manufactures for the United States Army. The one unit costs around $3 to $26 million depending on the variant because each variant has its pros and cons.

Sikorsky manufactures a civilian helicopter S-70, that costs between $12 million to $14 million.

How much does a Black Hawk Helicopter Cost? ( Range )

The exact price of a Black Hawk helicopter depends on the variant because, depending upon the variant; the Black Hawk will be equipped with an advanced weapon system for attaching missions, the ability to engage static or moving targets, forward-firing guns, Rockets, and laser-guided missiles, and much more.

But, a standard UH-60 Black Hawk will be available for as low as $5.9 Million with standard configuration, and the well-equipped variant with advanced features and advanced configuration can cost $25+ Million.

Black Hawk Variants

UH-60L Black Hawk

The UH-60L Black Hawk Helicopter is the most popular variant among the United States Army that is used for different roles like air assaults, air cavalry, medical, evacuation, surveillance, and, most popularly, aerial command.

The cost of this helicopter is estimated at $6 million. Still, this figure can vary depending on the number of units ordered and the relationship between the countries ( The one ordering the aircraft and the one delivering the choppers ).

HH-60 Pave Hawk

The second most popularly used chopper by the United States Air Force is the HH-60 Pave Hawk, which is also a twin-engine, four-blade chopper that is used for PAVE electric systems program, which is a search and recovery type of program that means the helicopter isnt designed for aerial assaults and isnt equipped with modern weaponry system. Still, it has weapons onboard to successfully troops from hostile conditions like battlefields success-60 Pave Hawk costs around 10.2 Million Bucks.

HH-60M Black Hawk

The next US Army chopper is HH-60M, another popularly used helicopter by not only the US army but also by other big armies in the world to do successful evacuations during the battlefields because it is designed specifically for evacuation and has all the built-in features like medical stuff, electronically controlled litter system for at least six patients, making the chopper super ideal for medical evacuation.

This chopper costs $25 Million.

Sikorsky VH-60N White Hawk

Up next is the Sikorsky VH-60N, another great chopper by the company. The companys cheapest chopper comes for only $1.6 Million. The nickname of this chopper is White Hawk or Angel because it is used for saving or transporting VIPVIPsrsonally like the US President, Vice President, Foreign Heads of State, and other important personal and high-ranking staff. The pilots of this chopper are directly in contact with the current CEO of the military people inside the white house.

UH-60J Black Hawk

The UH-60J is a special chopper designed for only the Japanese Army and costs $12+ Million United States Dollars. This chopper is produced by the Japanese Air Self Defence department and licensed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

This chopper is partially used for VIP transportation and battlefield rescue missions.

The UH-60J is a Japanese-made aircraft and is only used in Japan.

Sikorsky EH-60A

This is the most advanced type of chopper that isnt yet developed on a scale for commercial applications. Still, this concept chopper will cost around $20+ US Millions and will be used for modern electronic warfare.

The EH-60A can block enemy communications systems and the most advanced electronic system for disrupting the enemys electronic systems during the battle, which can give an edge to this chopper.

The Eh-60A requires two operators to operate the most advanced electronic system onboard.

Black Hawk Operating Cost

Depending on the variant in hand, the Black Hawk can cost millions of dollars just for operating the equipment.

There are no official statements about the operational costs, but we will provide you with an estimated range.

Cost Per Hour

The cost per hour for the maintenance of the chopper, as well as fuel and other expenses, mean the chopper can easily cost $2,000 to $4,000 for an hour. This price estimate can differ depending on the grounds the helicopter is operating and the market conditions of that ground.

Chopper Fuelling cost

Fuel cost depends on the scale of consumption, and that depends on several factors like the load/weight the chopper will be carrying, the altitude above sea level where the chopper will be flying, the external temperature, and most importantly, at what speed the chopper is moving, all these factors are going to determine the fueling cost of the aircraft.

Still, there are other factors like the use of weapons on board, but the estimate is that the chopper will cost between $800 to $2,000 to fuel one Black Hawk, which is entirely dependent on the fuel rates of the country.

Maintenance cost

For US Army, the biggest chunk of the Air defense budget goes to the maintenance of the equipment they possess, like tanks, choppers, fighting jets, artillery, etc.

Regarding Black Hawks, the maintenance cost for one chopper is tough because of different factors. Still, the US Army allocated a total budget of $1 billion to maintain Black Hawks to replace old parts with new ones or upgrade the weaponry system and many other things. This is the cost for one year; each year, they spend a whopping $1 Billion to upgrade their war toys.

Can Civilians buy a used Black Hawk Helicopter?

Civilians are allowed to purchase the non-military Black Hawk choppers. Still, they have no right to own a military helicopter, and the non-military Black Hawk is the one without the military hardware.

Civilians can get only available models or variants by spending as much as $3 to $5 million, depending on the aircrafts condition.

The popular civilian chopper S-70 comes with a price tag of $14 million, which is the price for a brand-new model.

In the end, I would say that the US spent heavily on war equipment, including choppers, and their arsenal contains war choppers, evacuation, and search choppers.

And each Black Hawk is going to cost $3 to $25 Million, depending on the model and the features it has.

What is a Blackhawk Helicopter?

The Blackhawk helicopter is an impeccable wild looking medium-lift military helicopter that was first manufactured in 1979 by Sikorsky Aircraft for military operations and was heavily used in the battles of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Blackhawk word comes from a US tribe based in Illinois that gave their name to the city.

The Blackhawk is the only bird that US military Coast Guard uses for Combat Search and Rescue ( CSAR) mission and Law Enforcement Patrol.

Many elite-class business tycoons also use this chopper for business meetings, and other uses of this heavy-duty aircraft are Media, Film Industry services, construction services, Agriculture, and Fisheries.

Different armies of the world have no access to this chopper, which means the common uses by the armed forces include troop transportation, assault operations, and rescue operations.

The 20th-century wars are only fought with this aircraft, like wars in Panama, Afghanistan, Somalia, and the Middle East.