It has taken five years and the influence of one of the Congress' most powerful legislators—U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye—to hand over six of the Army's latest troop and medical helicopters to the Hawaii Army National Guard, according to local officials.

Both Inouye, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka were present at the Hawaii Army National Guard's helicopter facilities in Hilo Monday when the six UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters—each costing $18 million—were blessed by the Rev. William Davis.

Col. Stephen Logan, state aviation officer for the Hawaii Army National Guard, said the blessing ceremony “;marks the culmination of a five-year initiative to bridge that gap between requirement and resource,”; adding, “;The Hawaii National Guard participates as part of a 46-state coalition to modernize the entire utility fleet, clearly the workhorse for domestic and contingency operations.”;

The six Black Hawk M model helicopters will join the two other older L models that are assigned to the Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment.

The unit is commanded by Capt. Phoebe B. Inigo and deployed to Balad Airfield in Iraq in 2008. It is authorized a total of 10 Black Hawks.

The M series Black Hawk helicopter is equipped with a stronger engine, a digital cockpit and composite rotor blades. The engine and blades give the M-model about 500 pounds of additional lift capability compared to the previous L models.

The M series went into production in June 2007, with 154 M models delivered so far, according to Lt. Col. Jerry Davis, product manager for the Army's UH-60 modernization program.

He told reporter Kris Osborn of the Defence Professional Web site that the M-series helicopter just completed its first 12-month major combat deployment in Afghanistan.

“;We went from analogue-type displays on the dash to multifunction digital displays,”; Davis said. “;Now the aircraft has a moving map capability with digital situational awareness on the dash integrated with the flight plan. It gave pilots a greater awareness of where their units were, where their supportive units were and where the enemy locations were. It has an integrated Blue Force tracker which automatically displays situational awareness on the moving map display, giving greater awareness to the pilot conducting the missions.”;

The Black Hawk has an air crew of two pilots and two crew chiefs. It can carry 11 soldiers or be re-configured as an air ambulance.