Philippine Air Force receives 5 more S-70i Black Hawk helicopters.

According to ti AirForceTechnology, Lockheed Martin company's PZL Mielec has delivered five additional S-70i Black Hawk combat utility helicopters (CUH) to the Philippine Air Force which will receive the third - and last - batch of five S-70i Black Hawk helicopters later in 2021.

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S-70i Black Hawk (Picture source: Wikimedia/PZL Mielec)

The second batch of aircraft arrived at Clark Air Base in Pampanga from Poland onboard a chartered Ukrainian Antonov An-124 Ruslan strategic airlifter. These aircraft are part of a $241m contract awarded to the Polish company in April 2019 for the supply of 16 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters. The government-to-government transaction was executed under ‘Horizon 2′ phase of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Act to fulfill the PAF’s CUH requirement.

Mid-December 2020, PZL Mielec delivered six S-70i Black Hawk helicopters to the Philippine Air Force at Clark Air Base. They were inducted into the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing. The six aircraft would be followed by 10 more in late 2021. The official delivery ceremony presided over by Secretary of National Defense Delfin Lorenzana and attended by Lt. Gen. Allen T. Paredes, Commanding General, Philippine Air Forces and Jarosław Szczepankiewicz, charge d'affaires a.i. of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Manila and numerous representatives of the Philippine Army, took place in Manila on 10 December 2020.

The Philippine contract for 16 Combat Utility Helicopters is one of the largest Black Hawk orders for PZL Mielec, which has manufactured almost 70 S-70i aircraft since deliveries began in 2011. The Philippines is the 9th country to acquire Polish-built Black Hawk helicopters.