Military spokesman Ron McLendon II said the Army is joining an investigation into the crash headed by the National Transportation Security Board.

The crew of a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk that fatally struck a commercial airliner was assigned to a Virginia-based VIP transport unit and was performing an annual night proficiency flight at the time of the incident.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls the deadly aircraft collision involving a Black Hawk and a civilian airliner "a tragedy" in a statement obtained exclusively by Fox News.

For many, the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, like the one involved in the Wednesday collision over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., is familiar for one reason: the 2001 movie "Black Hawk Down ," based on the 1993 shooting down of U.S. Black Hawk helicopters during the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.

An Army Black Hawk helicopter collided midair with an American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas, at Reagan National Airport on Wednesday.

An Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with a regional jet near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday evening, U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News.

American Airlines Flight 5342 from Wichita, Kansas, was attempting to land when the plane and a Black Hawk helicopter collided.

The American Airlines jet was carrying 60 passengers and four crew members when it collided with Black Hawk Army helicopter built by Connecticut's Sikorsky.

Multiple fatalities have been reported after a horrific incident involving American Airlines flight 5342 and a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter over

The UH-60 Black Hawk is the helicopter involved in a crash with a passenger jet on Wednesday night near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.

The Army crew involved in a mid-air collision with the jet was "fairly experienced," according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

A Black Hawk helicopter can transport up to "12 fully equipped, seated troops in combat," according to Lockheed Martin, the weapons company that builds the helicopter. There are about 5,000 of these helicopters in use by the United States Military.