MH-60S Knighthawk Helicopter

Text excepted from HC-3 Website, used with permission.

The MH-60S is an amalgam of the Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter and its Seahawk variant. It is a baseline Black Hawk
configuration with Naval Hawk engines, rotor system and dynamics, including the Seahawk's automatic rotor blade folding system, folding tail pylon, improved durability gearbox, rotor brake and automatic flight control computer. The MH-60S also features a Lockheed Martin developed glass cockpit which will ensure commonality with the SH-60R. The glass cockpit incorporates four 8-by-10 inch active matrix liquid crystal displays, dual integrated programmable keysets, dual flight management computers, an audio management computer, and a dual embedded global positioning system/inertial navigation system.
The Black Hawk airframe provides the larger cabin volume and double-door feature needed for cargo and passenger transport. The MH-60S incorporates a unique integrated cargo handling system. Also from Black Hawk, the CH-60S retains provisions for mounting the external stores support system. This will offer a variety of weapon and fuel tank options that will be very useful for a wide range of missions, including combat search and rescue and special warfare support. The robust MH-60S retains the Black Hawk 9,000-pound external cargo hook, and mounts a Seahawk rescue hoist for SAR missions.
Versatility is the basic design concept of the MH-60S helicopter, which will be called upon for multi-mission naval operations
including vertical replenishment, vertical on-board delivery, amphibious and carrier search and rescue, and remote site logistics
missions. The Navy is expected to capitalize on MH-60S capabilities by expanding into future missions areas such as airborne mine counter measures, combat search and rescue, special warfare support, utilizing a variety of mission systems.