US Army special operations aviators will fly both MV-75 tiltrotors and MH-60 Black Hawks

Special operations officials are affirming previously declared plans to field the Bell MV-75 tiltrotor but say it will not fully replace the Sikorsky MH-60 special mission variant.

Much like the broader US Army, the elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment now plans to simultaneously operate its Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters and the forthcoming Bell MV-75 Cheyenne II tiltrotor.

Rotary-wing procurement officials from US Special Operations Command, which outfits the 160th, say the regiment sees a need for both its current speciality variant MH-60M Black Hawks and the MV-75, which will offer significant improvements to speed and range.

“Those have two different missions,†says Colonel Aron Hauquitz, with US Army Special Operations Aviation Command.

Hauquitz and other procurement officials from US Special Operations Command spoke in Tampa, Florida, as part of the annual SOF Week conference from 18-21 May.

The MH-60 is used by the 160th to transport members of the Pentagon's various elite commando units into objective sites. An armed Direct Action Penetrator, or DAP, subvariant of the MH-60 is also flown by the 160th.

Footage from the January raid that captured then-Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro from urban Caracas suggests that MH-60s played a central role in both delivering and extracting the assault team with their quarry.

The 160th also flies the larger Boeing MH-47G twin-rotor, a derivative of the CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift type, for longer-range insertions and delivering heavy equipment. Those missions, particularly long-range insertion, will likely be a target for the new MV-75.

Some number of MH-60s will still be divested, as SOCOM and the 160th rebalance the rotary-wing fleet around the tiltrotor capability.

“There's going to be a reduction in the MH-60 fleet as we bring the MV-75 into the fight,†Hauquitz confirms. “We will figure that out as we get closer and the MV-75 comes onboard.â€

Currently, the conventional US Army is leading development of the Cheyenne II, although the service has collaborated with SOCOM and Bell to make sure particular special operations features like an aerial refuelling probe and terrain-following radar can be easily added to the base model design.

Army officials say they are now even considering adding aerial refuelling capability to their standard MV-75 fleet.

SOCOM will also be adding the Raytheon AN/APQ-187 Silent Knight terrain-following-and-avoidance radar system to assist with covert insertion missions.

“The army is bringing a very capable airplane, and we're going to put our very capable special mission equipment onboard it so that the aircrews and operators can get into the places that they need to get into,†says Lieutenant Colonel Cameron Keough, an experimental test pilot and programme manager for SOCOM's MV-75 effort.

Bell and the army plan to begin a flight test campaign with the first MV-75 prototype sometime before 2028. Army test pilots have already begun cross-training with the US Marine Corps on the Bell MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor in the interim.

Bell tells FlightGlobal it remains on track to meet the army's stated goal of fielding operational MV-75s to frontline combat units by 2030.

Deliveries of special operations aircraft for the 160th would follow sometime after that.

In the meantime, SOCOM continues to support upgrades to the MH-60M fleet, including standardising the fleet to the Block 1.1 standard. Keough says that effort will be completed in 2029.

Follow-on upgrades, designed either as Block 1.2 or Block 2.0, will see improvements like a new engine if the US Army moves forward with the Improved Turbine Engine programme. That would integrate the GE Aerospace T901 turboshaft across the Black Hawk fleet, including the MH-60Ms.

“We're closely following that,†Keough says. “If it continues to be successful, we will integrate that engine.â€

Sikorsky is currently flight testing the T901; however, the army has not committed to fully funding operational fielding of the new powerplant.

Conventional UH-60Ms are currently powered by two GE T700s, while SOCOM has fielded the more capable YT706 turboshaft for the 160th's MH-60Ms.

Although coming with higher fuel burn, the YT706 offers greater power output, which helps offset the extra weight of the MH-60M configuration.

The T901 will offer 50% more power compared to the T700, while reducing fuel consumption and sustainment costs.