Combat Utility Helicopters Finally Arrived

 10 November 2020

The first five of 16 brand new Sikorsky Blackhawk S70-i combat utility helicopters ordered for the Philippine Air Force (PAF) in 2019 were delivered from Poland to the Philippines Monday, November 9 aboard an Antonov An-124 Ruslan strategic airlifter. The sixth frame is also on the way to the Philippines on board commercial shipping vessel together with some classified parts and accessories arriving next month in Subic. The rest of the order will arrive next year completing PAF’s ‘combat utility helicopter’ (CUH) requirement under the ‘Horizon 2’ phase of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program (RAFPMP). The CUH programme valued at about USD240 million, was awarded by PAF in 2018 to Lockheed Martin of the United States after Canada disapproved the further sale of 16 Bell 412EPI medium-lift helicopters to the Philippines through a government-to-government deal valued at USD232 million on human rights concern against insurgents. The S-70i helicopters were manufactured by PZL Mielec – a Lockheed Martin company based in Poland.

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