Czech firm to build Black Hawk cockpits: report

PRAGUE, March 15, 2010 (AFP) - Czech aeronautics company Aero Vodochody will supply cockpits for Black Hawk helicopters made by US firm Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, the head of Aero said in a newspaper interview Monday.

"Every year, we will build 40 cockpits of these legendary helicopters for Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation," Ladislav Simek told the weekly Profit.


The first cockpits will be delivered in early 2011 as part of a contract that runs until 2017 and can be extended by five more years, Simek said.

He did not disclose the price of the transaction, but Aero said on its website it was part of three recently signed contracts worth more than four billion koruna (157 million euros, 214 million dollars).

The production of Black Hawk cockpits will allow Aero to create hundreds of new jobs, Simek said.

Aero, located in the suburb of Vodochody north of Prague, supplies the fuselage for Sikorzky's S-76 civilian helicopter since 2000.

Sikorsky, a unit of United Technologies, has been boosting its presence in eastern Europe in recent years.


by Hammoud Mounassar
(c) 2010 AFP