LOOK: PH military receives last batch of Black Hawk helicopters

From Rappler (Oct 15, 2021): LOOK: PH military receives last batch of Black Hawk helicopters (By JAIRO BOLLEDO)

A chopper, which crashed in Tarlac in June, is among the Black Hawk choppers procured by the military

The Department of National Defense (DND) on Thursday, October 14, announced that it already received the last batch of S-70i Black Hawk helicopters for the Philippine Air Force (PAF).

“With five more Black Hawks, the Philippine Air Force can now better provide prompt and sustained day and night tactical heli-lift and combat and non-combat search and rescue operations,” DND Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.

 


NEW ASSETS. Defense chief Delfin Lorenzana poses for a picture in front of the newly arrived choppers. DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE

According to the defense department, Lorenzana led the acceptance and blessing ceremony of the aircraft at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat, Pampanga on Wednesday. The same day, the Philippine military also received four ScanEagle aerial devices amounting to P200 million ($4 million).

A Black Hawk chopper, which was among the recently procured units by the military, crashed on June 23 and killed at least six people. Shortly after the fatal accident, Senator Richard Gordon, chairperson of the Senate blue ribbon committee, called for a Senate probe into the crash.

 


FOR GOOD LUCK. Lorenzana leads the blessing of the choppers. DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE

Following the incident, the PAF grounded all of its Black Hawk choppers.

The Philippines purchased the helicopters amounting to $241.46 million (P11 billion) from Polish company Polskie Zaklady Lotnicze. The 16 Black Hawk choppers came in three batches.

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The first batch of five helicopters arrived in November 2020, succeeded by one chopper in December the same year. In June this year, the Philippine military received the second batch of another five choppers.

The Black Hawk helicopters are important air assets of the military because they function for multi-mission workhorses, which are used for border patrol, search and rescue operations, and cargo lifts.

https://www.rappler.com/nation/photos-philippine-military-receives-last-batch-black-hawk-helicopters-october-2021