Direct proof of use
The Black Hawk family is directly documented in the 2003 Iraq War through official U.S. military records and imagery. A 12th Combat Aviation Brigade history places Army aviation helicopters crossing into Iraq during the March 2003 invasion, and DVIDS imagery documents a UH-60 Black Hawk flown in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom on September 20, 2003.
Later Operation Iraqi Freedom imagery shows UH-60 Black Hawks used for medical evacuation from Forward Operating Base Danger in 2004, air assault and extraction missions in 2006, combined U.S.-Iraqi air assault activity in 2009, and Baghdad overflight footage in 2009. The U.S. Air Force's HH-60G Pave Hawk record separately documents the April 16, 2004 Jolly 11 and Jolly 12 personnel-recovery mission near Kharbut, Iraq.
Sources: 12th CAB History, DVIDS Richardson Iraq UH-60, DVIDS FOB Danger Medevac, DVIDS Operation Swarmer UH-60, DVIDS FOB Summerall Extraction, DVIDS Mushada Air Assault, DVIDS Baghdad Flyover, National Museum HH-60G Pave Hawk
Timeline
In March 2003, the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade records that its helicopters were among the first non-special-operations helicopters to cross the border into Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom. DVIDS imagery later places a UH-60 Black Hawk in Iraq on September 20, 2003 with Lt. Col. Laura Richardson, commander of an assault helicopter battalion in the 101st Airborne Division.
On April 16, 2004, Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawks Jolly 11 and Jolly 12 launched in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to recover a five-person U.S. Army CH-47 crew after a crash in a sandstorm near Kharbut, Iraq. In July 2004, U.S. Army medics used a UH-60 Black Hawk medical helicopter at Forward Operating Base Danger to move a wounded Iraqi man to Baghdad for treatment.
In March 2006, official imagery documented UH-60 Black Hawks in combined air assault operations, including Operation Swarmer northeast of Samarra and an air assault mission in the Al Jazeera Desert. Additional DVIDS records show a UH-60 extracting soldiers west of Forward Operating Base Summerall in June 2006 and UH-60 Black Hawks flying over Baghdad in June 2009.
Sources: 12th CAB History, DVIDS Richardson Iraq UH-60, National Museum HH-60G Pave Hawk, DVIDS FOB Danger Medevac, DVIDS Operation Swarmer UH-60, DVIDS Al Jazeera Air Assault, DVIDS FOB Summerall Extraction, DVIDS Baghdad Flyover
Operational role
The sourced Iraq record places the Black Hawk family on the United States and coalition side of the war. The directly documented Army UH-60 roles were battlefield mobility tasks: moving soldiers, supporting air assault operations, extracting troops, medical evacuation, and flying over urban operating areas.
The Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk variant added a personnel-recovery role. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force describes the HH-60G as a modified Black Hawk for personnel recovery, medical evacuation, and related missions, and ties Jolly 11 and Jolly 12 to a specific Operation Iraqi Freedom rescue near Kharbut under near-zero-visibility sandstorm conditions.
The cited records support use of the Black Hawk family in Iraq, but they do not show Iraqi security forces as Black Hawk operators in these incidents. The 2009 Mushada image documents U.S. Army soldiers exiting a UH-60 during a joint operation with the Iraqi army, while identifying the aircraft use through the U.S. Army unit.
Sources: DVIDS FOB Danger Medevac, DVIDS Operation Swarmer UH-60, DVIDS FOB Summerall Extraction, DVIDS Mushada Air Assault, DVIDS Baghdad Flyover, National Museum HH-60G Pave Hawk
