AVIONICS, October 24, 2017 – For a while, Sikorsky and its HH-60U Black Hawk, and the Boeing/Leonardo team with its MH-139, have been at the forefront of the U.S. Air Force’s UH-1N replacement competition. But as the deadline for proposals passed mid-September, there was another contending aircraft in the running. Driven by a customized Garmin G5000H avionics suite, Sierra Nevada Corp.’s “Force Hawk” is also in contention to become the new helicopter the Air Force uses to protect intercontinental ballistic missile fields, among other mission sets.
Without a large sales or marketing effort surrounding its bid aircraft, Sierra Nevada Corp. went generally unnoticed for the year-plus it was developing its proposal. The systems integrator’s Force Hawk features a Garmin G5000H avionics suit with high resolution displays, a glass touchscreen interface, and access to remote audio and intercom flight management system....