Australia continues its military rapprochement with the United States. Yesterday, October 11, the portal navalnews.com He announced that the Australian Navy will receive 12 MH-60R helicopters.
The US State Department has approved the request of the Australian Ministry of Defense for shipboard helicopters, equipment and spare parts for them, as well as a wide range of ammunition. The potential deal is estimated at $985 million.
Helicopter MRH90 Taipan of the Australian Navy
Image source: thedefensepost.com
In addition, the approved request indicates a potential technology transfer for the production of MH-60R helicopters in Australia. It is planned that American helicopters will replace the MRH90 Taipan vehicles used by the Australian fleet (the Australian version of the NH90).
Helicopter MH-60R
Image source: navalnews.com
This year, Australia officially abandoned the European Tiger attack helicopters, purchasing American AH-64 Apache to replace them. The Australian government has repeatedly expressed dissatisfaction with the purchased Airbus Helicopters, pointing to problems and delays in their maintenance, as well as technical malfunctions that led to prolonged "grounding" of the entire fleet of the same type of equipment. Earlier, the MRH90 Taipan was replaced in the Australian Armed Forces by the American Black Hawk.
