A new partnership between Astronautics Corporation of America and WCF Aerospace is set to deliver a streamlined avionics upgrade for the Sikorsky UH-60 A/L Black Hawk fleet. The companies have submitted an application for a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) to install Astronautics’ AFI4700 RoadRunner® Electronic Flight Instrument (EFI) as a retrofit solution, with certification targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.
The program directly addresses a critical readiness issue facing UH-60 operators: the growing obsolescence of legacy analog Attitude Director Indicators (ADI) and Horizontal Situation Indicators (HSI). The RoadRunner EFI replaces these aging, failure-prone instruments with a single, modern digital display. This approach minimizes aircraft downtime and reduces integration complexity, offering a cost-effective alternative to full-scale cockpit overhauls.
WCF Aerospace, an FAA Part 145 repair station and authorized Astronautics dealer, is leading the certification effort as the STC applicant. The company will also manage the deployment of the upgrade for operators seeking to enhance mission readiness and long-term fleet sustainment.
“This initiative is about preserving the operational capability of the Black Hawk fleet by tackling avionics obsolescence head-on with a dependable, field-proven instrument,” said James Wells, president of WCF Aerospace. “The RoadRunner EFI provides a modernization pathway that avoids the significant cost, extended schedules, and inherent risks of replacing the entire cockpit.”
The RoadRunner EFI consolidates critical flight data into a single, high-resolution screen. It interfaces seamlessly with existing or upgraded attitude and heading reference systems, navigation radios, and GPS, ensuring minimal disruption to the current aircraft configuration. While the UH-60 A/L remains certificated for day Visual Flight Rules (VFR), the IFR-capable RoadRunner significantly enhances situational awareness by overlaying navigation data, including course deviation, weather radar, and moving maps. This upgrade reduces pilot workload and improves safety during demanding missions such as firefighting, search and rescue, and utility operations.
The RoadRunner EFI holds FAA Technical Standard Order authorization and is already approved on multiple platforms, including Leonardo helicopters and U.S. Air Force T-38s. Following approval, the STC will be available through WCF Aerospace, allowing authorized installers to support global UH-60 operators.
