The Sikorsky Model S-70 was developed in response to the Army's 1972 request for a Utility Tactical Transport System (UTTAS) helicopter. The UTTAS design criteria were based upon U.S. experience during Vietnam. In particular, the Army wanted a helicopter with crew survivability features and engines, rotors, and transmission designed to be better capable of taking damage than the Huey. Sikorsky equipped the S-70 with a crashworthy cabin "box," an armour-plated cockpit, self-sealing fuel tanks, and wheeled landing gear that could absorb heavy vertical impacts. The S-70, unlike most Hueys, has two engines, either of which can keep the helicopter in the air if the other fails. It also has widely-separated redundant electronic and hydraulic systems. It has four main rotor blades and a tail rotor that is tilted at an angle and therefore provides some additional lift.

Perhaps the most unusual thing about the S-70 is its shape. Unlike the Huey, it is long and low-set. This design was dictated by the requirement that the helicopter be able to fit inside a C-130 Hercules cargo plane without removing the rotors. Two of the craft had to be capable of fitting inside a C-141 and six within a C-5 Galaxy. The low ceiling of these aircraft required a helicopter that was wider and squatter than a Huey.

The first S-70, designated the YUH-60A by the Army, competed against the Boeing Vertol YUH-61A in 1975. It was declared the winner of the UTTAS competition in December 1976, and entered production soon after. The first production UH-60A Black Hawk was delivered to the Army in 1979. By the time production of the A model ended in October 1989, Sikorsky had produced 976 aircraft for the Army. The UH-60A was succeeded by the UH-60L, equipped with more powerful engines, a system for reducing the heat generated by the engines, and provision for a stronger external cargo hook. Both versions carry eleven fully armed troops and a crew of three. A dedicated medevac version was also developed, equipped like most private medevac helicopters and capable of carrying six patients.

The UH-60A has a rotor diameter of 53.7 feet (16.4 meters), is 64.8 feet (19.8 meters) long, and 16.8 feet (5.1 meters) high. It weighs 10,649 pounds (4,830 kilograms) when empty, has a maximum weight of 20,250 pounds (9,185 kilograms), and carries a crew of three. Two 1,543-shaft horsepower (1,150.6-kilowatt) GE T700-GE-700 turboshaft engines provide power. Its maximum speed is 182 miles per hour (293 kilometres per hour), can reach an altitude of 19,300 feet (5,883 meters), and has a range of 373 miles (600 kilometres).

The UH-60 first saw combat during the 1983 U.S. invasion of the island of Grenada. According to the Army, it proved it could survive significant damage and still fly. It also proved quite capable eight years later during the Persian Gulf War, when nearly half of the Army's total number of Black Hawks participated. Only two were lost in combat. During the U.S. mission to Somalia in 1993, the Black Hawk proved vulnerable to rocket-propelled grenades fired from rooftops and several were lost.

The U.S. Navy also adopted a version of the H-60 named Seahawk as a multi-role combat helicopter known as Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS) III. The LAMPS III was intended to perform anti-submarine and surface attack missions, as well as other utility duties and search and rescue at sea. The SH-60B Seahawk entered service in 1983. It was soon followed by the SH-60F, which replaced the Sikorsky SH-3H Sea King in the anti-submarine role. The SH-60F is equipped with a sonar that it lowers into the water on a cable (known as a "dipping sonar" or "dunking sonar") to listen for submarines. The Navy also developed a search and rescue version known as the HH-60H Rescue Hawk. The Navy plans to modify the SH-60B and SH-60F to a common standard, known as the SH-60R. It also intends to procure a cargo-carrying version known as the CH-60S. In addition, a similar version has been proposed for Marine Corps use.