On Thursday, 20 November 2025, as reported by Brazilian defense media, the American company Lockheed Martin delivered to the Brazilian Army (Exército Brasileiro) the first of twelve ordered Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk multirole helicopters.
Photo: SA Defensa via X
The helicopter was delivered aboard a U.S. Air Force (USAF) Boeing C-17A Globemaster III heavy transport aircraft (registration number 97-0048) to São Paulo’s Governor André Franco Montoro International Airport.
On 24 May 2024 the U.S. Department of State approved the potential sale to Brazil of twelve UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters together with additional equipment and services, for a maximum of 950 million USD. These are therefore new airframes, not used ones drawn from U.S. Army stocks, as previously suggested. The quantity was also reduced: twelve instead of sixteen.
On 28 October 2024, the U.S. Army Contracting Command (ACC) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, acting on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, signed a contract worth 1,239,690,206 USD with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. (a Lockheed Martin company) for the production of a batch of UH-60M helicopters for five export customers, including Brazil.
In the Exército Brasileiro, they will replace four HM-2 helicopters (the local designation for the S-70A Black Hawk) and eight HM-3 helicopters (Eurocopter AS532UE Cougar), and will supplement the sixteen HM-2 airframes in the Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira), but in a configuration for Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR). Interestingly, on 9 September 2014 Brazil received approval to purchase three UH-60M helicopters for up to 145 million USD, but the procurement process was halted.
The S-70A Black Hawks, equivalent to the UH-60L standard in U.S. Army service, entered the Exército Brasileiro in 1997. They were assigned to the 4th Aviation Battalion (4º Batalhão de Aviação), headquartered in Manaus. They had been ordered for peacekeeping operations on the Peru–Ecuador border under the MOMEP (Missão de Observação Militar Equador–Peru) mission.
It is also worth noting that the Brazilian Navy (Marinha do Brasil) operates six Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopters (locally designated SH-16).
As for Black Hawks in the U.S. Army configuration, in recent months Lithuania has received its first two of four helicopters (with an option for two more); Argentina has expressed interest in acquiring three used ones; and Chile is also seeking additional Black Hawks, likely S-70i models. In previous months, helicopters of this type donated by the United States have been delivered to public-service agencies in Peru and Colombia.
📍São Paulo, #Brazil (🇧🇷)
This @usairforce (🇺🇸) C-17A flight was to deliver the first UH-60M Black Hawk for the @exercitooficial.
The Brazilian Army purchased 12x UH-60Ms via FMS sale back in May 2024.
1/2 https://t.co/K7RCBiRTTP pic.twitter.com/q0ZU513b5R
— SA Defensa (@SA_Defensa) November 21, 2025
