TSAMTO, January 19. Philippine Secretary of National Defense Delphine Lorenzana announced on January 16 that the government intends to purchase 32 additional S-70i Black Hawk helicopters.
The Ministry sent a notification to the Polish company PZL Mielec about the award of the contract at the end of last year.
According to D. Lorenzana on his Facebook page, the notification of the contract worth 32 billion Philippine pesos ($620 million) was signed on December 28, 2021. Currently, the parties are agreeing on the terms of the contract, after which an official notification of the start of work should be sent to the contractor.
As planned, in addition to the supply of helicopters, the contract will include a package of logistics support, training of pilots and maintenance personnel. Delivery of the S-70i should begin in 2023 (5 units). The second and third batches of 10 helicopters will be delivered in 2024 and 2025, respectively. The last 7 cars will be delivered to the customer in 2026.
As reported by TSAMTO, the contract for the supply of the first 16 multi-purpose S-70i Black Hawk helicopters developed by Sikorsky to the Philippine Air Force was signed in April 2019 as part of an intergovernmental agreement with Poland. The purchase was implemented as part of the second stage of the modernization program of the Armed forces of the Philippines (Horizon-2). The sale cost was about 11.5 billion filip. pesos ($241.462 million). The helicopters were assembled at the Polish company PZL Mielec, which is a division of Sikorsky.
The ordered S-70i are designed to transport troops and cargo, supplies, medical evacuation, aerial reconnaissance, limited close air support, search and rescue operations, and support operations to assist victims of natural disasters.
The first six S-70is were delivered to the Philippines in November 2020. They became part of the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing, stationed at the Mactan-Benito Ebuen base. Five more helicopters were delivered in June 2021 and officially entered service on October 13, 2021. The last five S-70i Black Hawk helicopters were put into service on December 3, 2021.
One of the first six S-70is crashed on June 24, 2021 during a night exercise.
S-70i were purchased instead of Bell-412EPI, the contract for the supply of which was canceled by the Philippine Air Force. It is planned that the Black Hawk fleet of the Philippine Air Force will reach full readiness for combat use in 2023.
