The Philippines received the first set of the 16 Polish-built S-70i Black Hawk Helicopters that the government had ordered. According to the government news agency, the next shipment is due to arrive next month.
The five helos were shipped using a chartered Ukrainian Antonov AN-124 air freight plane from Poland to Clark Air Base, nestled in the northern region of the nation’s capital, Manila. According to the report, Antonov AN-124 transport aircraft departed Rzeszow Jasionka Airport in eastern Poland and arrived in The Philippines on 9 November.
The entire consignment comprised six S-70i Black Hawk helicopters, but the sixth “bird” is being shipped by an ocean carrier, according to the Philippines Department of National Defense (DND). The department decided to use a marine vessel to haul the aircraft because of the Antonov’s limiting cargo capacity, which has a maximum load capacity of five helicopters.
The 16 helicopters scheduled for haulage to the Philippines are rolled out from PZL Mielec, one of Poland’s leading aircraft manufacturers. The company is a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, the company that acquired Sikorski, the original brand behind Black Hawk.
The Philippines’ acquisition of the fleet results from a government-to-government pact between Poland and the Southeast Asian country. The deal that was struck in 2019 was valued at $241 million. The Philippines government bought the helicopters as part of the Polish Horizon 2 Modernization Program (2018 – 2022).
Transport aircraft is an integral part of the Philippines’ defense forces. The boasts archipelagic geography, consisting of over 7,000 islands. With the ongoing insurgencies and the random occurrences of natural disasters, the defense department needs to transport helicopters to haul soldiers and equipment to crisis areas for relief operations.
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Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Defense