Photo Of The Day is a bit unusual today as we’re looking at a Blackhawk Door Gunner on the ground. The photos are from the 12:th Combat Aviation Brigade and the location is the Grafenwoher Training Area in Bavaria, Germany.

I guess it is a lot cheaper to do any zeroing and basic training on the ground. Shooting from a helicopter is probably difficult enough, as there are so many factors to compensate for.

UH60 Blackhawk Door Gunners from the 1-214th General Support Aviation Battalion qualify on ground tables before taking off for aerial gunnery tables at a snowy range in Grafenwoher Training Area on Feb. 29.

I think these are M240H (M240E5) machine guns, as they are equipped with dual spade grips and thumb-activated trigger systems. They also have rail-equipped feed cover and an improved flash suppressor.

They are easy to convert back to infantry use on the ground, using an Egress kit that includes a bipod and conventional pistol grip trigger module.

If found a video from 2017 which explains more about the M240H and the qualification process.

The M240H entered service in 2004 on U.S. Army helicopters.

Photos courtesy of Alexander Klingelhöller.