Philippine Air Force receives final S-70i Black Hawk helicopters
The Philippine Air Force has completed delivery of a 32-helicopter order for Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawks, bringing its total fleet to 47 aircraft.
The Philippine Air Force has received the final seven S-70i Black Hawk helicopters from a 2022 order for 32 aircraft, completing the acquisition.
The handover took place during a ceremony at Colonel Jesus Villamor air base. With these additions, the air force's total fleet of the type now stands at 47 helicopters.
According to the Philippine Air Force, the completed order strengthens its ability to carry out air transport, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, search and rescue, and medical evacuation missions. The service described the deliveries as part of a broader modernization effort to improve the readiness of its rotary-wing fleet.
The 32-helicopter order followed an earlier 2018 commitment for 16 S-70i aircraft, delivered by November 2021. One helicopter from that earlier batch was later written off after a crash in 2021.
All of the Philippines' S-70i helicopters were built in Poland by Lockheed Martin's PZL-Mielec subsidiary, which produces the international variant of the Black Hawk for export customers.
Sources
- flightglobal.comManila takes final batch of S-70i Black Hawks