Philippines to Procure More Black Hawk Helicopters Manufactured in Poland
President of the Philippines has accepted the procurement of extra 15 Black Hawk helicopters, manufactured at the PZL Mielec factory in Poland. The above aircraft would join the 16 already procured, Sun-Star reports.
As reported by Sun Star, Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines, has approved the procurement of 15 Black Hawk helicopters, as announced by Karlo Nograles, the Cabinet Secretary of the Philippines. The helicopters would replace the Huey platform operated in the Philippines now - the UH-1Hs and UH-1Ds. The latter type is prone to accidents. One of these aircraft crashed in mid-January, with 7 persons dying in the accident.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines already operate the S-70i Black Hawk helicopters delivered by Lockheed Martin’s PZL Mielec facility. Back in 2019 Manila ordered 16 helicopters as such from Mielec, with a price tag of 240 million dollars. 6 of them have been handed off in 2020, another 10 would be delivered this year.
Actually, it means that the second lot of the Black Hawks would be procured in Mielec as well. This would also mean that the Mielec facility would deliver 31 helicopters in total, to the Philippines. The Black Hawks would be used for cargo and SAR missions. The helicopters are very useful, due to the numerous islands and the terrain that is common in the Philippines.
The S-70i Black Hawk helicopters delivered by PZL Mielec are also operated by the Polish Military. Four aircraft as such have been procured for the Special Operations Forces in January 2019. The delivery took place in late 2019. Three helicopters of the type are operated by the Polish Police. The aircraft are used to support the CT units.