Stratford, Conn. Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company has received a four-year contract from the Brazilian Air Force to provide logistics support for the service’s 16 UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters. The contract will improve fleet sustainment resulting from local storage of commonly required spare parts, assistance from a regional Sikorsky field service technician, and direct technical support from Sikorsky Engineering.
“We thank the Brazilian Air Force for selecting Sikorsky to provide the highest level of logistics support for its Black Hawk helicopter fleet,” said Felipe Benvegnu, director of Sikorsky sustainment business development. “Local storage of spare parts will eliminate long lead times for material that would keep an aircraft on the ground. Close collaboration with Sikorsky engineers, whether virtual or in person, also will help the Air Force maintainers improve the readiness rates of these utility aircraft for important missions, such as search and rescue.”
The Brazilian Air Force acquired its 16 Black Hawk aircraft via Foreign Military Sales between 2006 and 2013.
The Air Force contract is modeled after a multi-year logistics support agreement between Sikorsky and the Brazilian Army. In 2019, after previous agreements with the Army, the flight availability rate of the four Army S-70A (UH-60L equivalent) Black Hawk aircraft reached a 100 percent readiness.
