Lithuania’s New Black Hawks Take Flight Signaling U.S.-backed NATO Upgrade.

Lithuania’s first UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters have completed initial test flights just days after their delivery to the Lithuanian Air Force Base. The milestone signals a decisive shift toward NATO-standard air mobility and greater self-reliance in Baltic defense operations.

The Lithuanian Armed Forces announced on October 21, 2025, that the country’s first UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters had completed initial test flights days after arriving at the Lithuanian Air Force Base. The milestone confirmed all major systems following delivery of the first two aircraft on October 18, with two more scheduled to follow next year. Vilnius describes the UH-60M as a step change for mobility, search and rescue, and combat support, edging out legacy Soviet designs and anchoring Lithuania’s move to a NATO-standard rotary fleet. The prospective package for Lithuania has included M240H door guns and the AN/AAR-57 missile warning system, indicating a clear intent to field a combat-capable utility platform from day one.
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Lithuania’s new UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters complete their first test flights, marking a major leap in NATO-standard air mobility and replacing aging Soviet-era Mi-8s with modern, combat-capable platforms designed for troop transport, rescue, and tactical support (Picture source: Lithuanian Armed Forces).

The UH-60M is the U.S. Army’s newest production Black Hawk variant, powered by two General Electric T700-GE-701D turboshafts that give the aircraft robust hot-and-high performance and the torque margin needed for external lift missions. Typical troop capacity is a section-sized element, and the airframe can carry internal cargo or sling loads up to roughly 4,000 kilograms, with a combat cruise near 280 kilometers per hour and an unrefueled range of about 500 kilometers depending on load and profile. The four-blade, rotor system and strengthened transmission are built for austere operations, including dispersed basing and rough-field landings that Baltic contingencies may require.

Avionics are where the M-model pulls furthest ahead of Lithuania’s retiring fleet. A fully digital cockpit with multi-function displays, integrated flight management, and coupled autopilot reduces pilot workload and enables safer instrument flight in marginal Baltic weather. The platform is designed as a networked node, able to execute missions under instrument rules, fly at night with NVG compatibility, and accept survivability kits such as the Common Missile Warning System tied to countermeasure dispensers. In time, Lithuania can add external tanks or the External Stores Support System to extend range or carry mission kits without sacrificing cabin space.

A Black Hawk configured with hoist, litters, and sensors can launch for maritime or overland rescue, then reconfigure for air assault or special operations support with fast-rope bars and door guns. With 11 troops plus gear or a heavy sling load, a single sortie can insert a patrol to interdict a border incursion, deliver Stinger or Javelin resupply to dispersed territorial units, or lift a radar team to a remote site. The UH-60M’s stability, de-icing, and IFR capability expand the country’s all-weather response alongside the smaller AS365 Dauphin SAR fleet already in service, giving commanders a two-tier rotary toolset sized for the Baltic littoral.

Lithuanian pilots completed an eight-week conversion in the United States, with continuation training now underway at home using a newly installed simulator and American instructor cadre. Ties to the Pennsylvania National Guard, a long-standing State Partnership Program ally, are accelerating tactics, techniques, and procedures transfer so Lithuanian crews fly, maintain, and fight the Black Hawk the way U.S. units do. That interoperability is the real currency of NATO operations, from medevac to air assault to disaster response.

Set against a grinding Russia-NATO confrontation, the new helicopters carry weight beyond their rotors. They replace aging Mi-8s with a Western design that shares spares, data standards, and training pipelines with allies, while delayed deliveries finally arriving in late 2025 underscore sustained U.S. support despite supply-chain turbulence. The result is a Baltic ally that can move troops faster, rescue civilians in storms over the Baltic Sea, and plug seamlessly into allied task forces staging from Šiauliai or forward strips across the region. As NATO rehearses contested recovery and distributed operations in the Baltic theater, Lithuania’s Black Hawks turn a modernization line item into operational leverage.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.