Helikopter - Australia og NH90 - Australian Aviation

Dette er et utdrag fra en rapport vedr. en brann som søkelyset til NH90 / Taipan forårsaket etter landing i bushen som ikke kan relateres til de generelle driftsproblemene til helikopteret. Legg merke til at Australia gjør som Danmark og Sverige; de går for en Sikorsky løsning. (Red.)

Separately, the Taipan itself has faced a string of problems and remains “under review” by the new federal government.

In September, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) placed a second order for 12 MH-60R Seahawk/Romeo helicopters in a deal tipped to be worth over $2.5 billion.

The new aircraft will build on the 24 acquired between 2013–2016 and would take the total size of the fleet to 36.

Alongside the purchase of 12 new Seahawks, the federal government is also mulling a purchase of 40 Black Hawks to help replace its troubled fleet of 47 Taipans.

The deal for the Blackhawks, however, is still unconfirmed, with new Defence Minister Richard Marles arguing the commitment from the previous federal government was “pretty fuzzy”.

“A process is underway that is evaluating that capability in terms of what we have now and what we need in the future. I’m not going to pre-empt it now,” he said, referencing the new federal government’s upcoming Defence Strategic Review.

Last year, the former Morrison government went as far as to send a letter of request to the United States so Australia could purchase UH-60M Black Hawks for AU$2.79 billion.