The MH-60S Knight Hawk is a member of the Sea Hawk series of carrier-based helicopters, replacing the U.S. Navy's aging UH-46A/D Sea Rider fleet, which is why the MH-60S is nicknamed the "Knight Hawk".
In January 2000, the MH-60S Knight Hawk made its maiden flight and began to become the absolute main multi-purpose helicopter of the carrier fleet. It mainly performs tasks such as vertical supply, combat search and rescue, special operations support and aerial waterproof mine countermeasures.
The MH-60S can be said to be a combination of the Army UH-60L "Black Hawk" and the Navy SH-60B "SeaHawk", the fuselage is "Black Hawk", and the internal equipment is "SeaHawk".
There are many advantages of this combination, one is to save money, the army's "Black Hawk" production is hugely diluted costs, and it can save a lot of money by using "Black Hawk" as the main structure. The Navy purchased smaller Seahawks for use on ships with smaller helicopter platforms, such as destroyers and frigates, and were not necessary on aircraft carriers with spacious decks. The second is to get better versatility, the "Knight Hawk" has the widest and most comfortable cargo compartment in the Seahawk series, which not only means that there is a larger and stronger loading capacity, but also better modification space to take on more tasks.
U.S. aircraft carriers will generally be equipped with 8 MH-60S "Knight Hawk" multi-purpose helicopters. The universal performance of the "Black Hawk" series helicopters is really amazing, originally the US Navy only used the "Knight Hawk" as a transport aircraft, replacing the UH-46, which is too large a longitudinal double rotorcraft, the more the results are used, the better it feels, and now all kinds of "chores" on the aircraft carrier are contracted by it.