“It is critically important there is a safe, reliable and capable utility helicopter available for our service men and women into the future, with reasonable and predictable operating costs.” Aircraft Grounding The Department of Defence stated that it is seeking to procure up to 40 Black Hawks from the US and retire the troubled Airbus aircraft earlier than their intended retirement in 2037.ĭutton explained that the “performance of the MRH90 Taipan has been an ongoing and well-documented concern for Defence and there has been a significant effort at great expense to try to remediate those issues.” A ceremony was held in Canberra on December 2, including a flypast by both S-70A-9 and MRH90 Taipan helicopters.Australian defense minister Peter Dutton announced last week that the government wants to replace the country’s Airbus MRH 90 Taipan helicopters with Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawks. Shortly before these events, Australia’s army aviation was reorganized into a new, stand-alone Aviation Command, having previously been administered by Army Forces Command. Its out-of-service date was extended by at least a year due to the difficulties being experienced by its MRH90 successor.
The type flew over 200,000 hours in the course of its 33 years of service with the Australian Army. and the remaining 38 were assembled by Hawker de Havilland at Bankstown, NSW. Army’s UH-60A-was ordered by the Royal Australian Air Force in 1986, shortly before the RAAF’s rotary-wing assets were handed over to the army. The first-generation Black Hawk-similar to the U.S. On the same day as the announcement, the army retired the Sikorsky S-70A-9 in a ceremony at Holsworthy Barracks in Sydney, New South Wales, where the last few served on special operations counter-terrorism duties with 6 AVN. State Department to acquire 12 Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawks to replace them, joining the 24 “Romeos” already in RAN service In October the navy was cleared by the U.S. Six of the MRH90s are flown by the RAN, but they have also suffered from availability issues. Leonardo AW139s have been temporarily leased for training and non-combat duties. The type has suffered from availability and spares management issues, and earlier this year was the subject of a fleetwide grounding. Intended to replace the Army’s S-70A-9 Black Hawk and Royal Australian Navy’s Westland Sea Kings, the first entered army service in 2008, with the last being delivered in 2017. “It is critically important there is a safe, reliable and capable utility helicopter available for our service men and women into the future, with reasonable and predictable operating costs.”Īustralia acquired 47 MRH90 rotorcraft, of which four were built in Europe with the remainder being assembled by Australian Aerospace in Brisbane, Queensland. “The performance of the MRH90 Taipan has been an ongoing and well-documented concern and there has been a significant effort at great expense to try to remediate those issues,” said Dutton. That date is likely to be brought forward by 10 years.Īccording to the Department of Defence, the MRH90 has not met contracted availability requirements nor the expected cost of ownership ahead of its planned withdrawal from service. If the plan, which Australia's defense minister Peter Dutton announced on December 10, is approved, the arrival of the new helicopters will accelerate the retirement of the troubled NH Industries MRH90 Taipan fleet, which was originally due to leave service in 2037. government on the procurement of up to 40 Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk utility transport helicopters.
The Australian Army is seeking information from the U.S.