A piece of military helicopter history was written this week as the first Swedish UH-60M Black Hawk pilots were graduated at the US Army Aviation Center in Fort Rucker, Alabama. The first four pilots passed their final check-rides on Wednesday, and thereby became the very first Black Hawk pilots in Sweden.

A total of 15 UH-60M Black Hawks (HKP 16) have been ordered, and the first ones are expected to be delivered in early-2012. The first HKP 16s are planned to be operational at Camp Marmal in Afghanistan from the spring of 2013, replacing the Swedish HKP 10B Super Pumas that have been operational in the country since April 2011.

Reproduced from Nordic Rotors with permission. Copyright and full responsibility for the content of this article remains with Nordic Rotors