TSAMTO, February 24. On February 22, Lockheed Martin announced the signing ceremony held at the office of the Polish Ministry of Defense by the PZL Mielec division of the contract for the supply of 32 additional S-70i "Black Hawk" multipurpose helicopters to the Philippines Ministry of Defense.
The document was signed by Philippine Minister of National Defense Delphine Lorenzana and President and CEO of PZL Mielec Janusz Zakrecki.
As stated, the delivery of all 32 helicopters by 2026 will significantly expand the capabilities of the Philippine Air Force to transport troops, conduct search and rescue operations, provide humanitarian assistance and assistance to victims of natural disasters.
All helicopters will be delivered to the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing of the Philippine Air Force. Each helicopter will be equipped with a fully integrated digital cockpit with a four-axis autopilot, a color weather radar, an integrated system for monitoring the technical condition of the IVHM helicopter and a cargo hook with a lifting capacity of 9,000 pounds (4082 kg). The agreement also includes an initial logistics support package. Pilots and technicians will be trained both in the USA and in the Philippines.
The contract for the supply of 32 helicopters to the Philippine Air Force is the largest single order for PZL Mielec since the start of production of the S-70i in 2009. The contract was signed two months after the company completed the delivery of the first 16 helicopters to the Philippine Air Force.
As reported by TSAMTO, in April 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines signed a contract for the purchase of 16 multi-purpose S-70i Black Hawk helicopters developed by Sikorsky under an intergovernmental agreement with Poland. The sale cost was about 11.5 billion filip. pesos ($241.462 billion). The helicopters were assembled at the Polish company PZL Mielec.
The first six S-70is were delivered to the Philippines in November 2020. Five more helicopters were officially put into service on October 13, 2021, and the last five vehicles – on December 3, 2021. One of the six S-70is of the first batch crashed on June 24, 2021 during a night exercise.
The notification of the contract for the purchase of 32 additional S-70i Black Hawk helicopters worth 32 billion Philippine pesos ($625 million) was signed by the Minister of National Defense of the Philippines Delfin Lorenzana on December 28, 2021.
As planned, the delivery of helicopters will begin in 2023. The S-70i will be delivered in four batches: 5 units in 2023, 10 units in 2024, 10 units in 2025 and 7 units in 2026.
