Army is rapidly bringing its fleet of UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters into service with the aircraft and crew flying more than 1,400 hours in support of introduction into service activities since the aircraft’s arrival in 2023.
Army soldiers and aviators have undertaken essential platform training, special operations training activities and first of class flight trials, supporting the continuous investment in a highly capable and ready Army. Training on the Black Hawk will continue in November, with test and evaluation of the aircraft’s capability, and counter-terrorism training to be conducted across the greater Sydney region.
Commander Army Aviation Command, Major General Stephen Jobson, said undergoing this training is an important milestone for the aviation capability. “The Black Hawk provides Army with the modern, credible and sustainable aviation capability it needs to meet the contemporary challenges of warfare,” Major General Jobson said. “This specialised, complex training will ensure our soldiers and aviators are able to rapidly respond to domestic emergencies and potential security threats. We thank the New South Wales community for the ongoing support, and appreciate your patience while we conduct essential training that is critical to maintaining our world-class counter-terrorism response.”
Ten UH-60M Black Hawks have been delivered to Australia since August 2023, with a further two aircraft scheduled for delivery in November 2024. All 40 aircraft are due to be delivered by 2030. The fleet is on track to achieve an initial operational capability in the coming months.
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7 years to get 40 Blackhawk helicopters into service?
Does seem rather a long time, doesn’t it?
46 MRH90 were delivered in 9.5 years, (Dec 07 to Jul 17).
40 UH-60M in 7 years seems reasonable.
With most of the MRH-90s assembled in Brisbane with hundreds of Australians employed. Remind me – where are the UH-60Ms coming from?
https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-02/Auditor-General_Report_2023-24_14_pdss_19.pdf
Thanks. I’ve seen the data sheets before many times. Are there any particular sections you wish to highlight? I was joking about the origins of the UH-60M – it is of course a fully imported US product.
The MRH90’s delivery schedule has ZERO relevance as Taipans were REPLACING operational (but unfit for combat ops in Afghanistan) S-70s. The “accelerated” acquisition BS surrounding these UH-60Ms is a fundamentally flawed trickle down response to the gaping capability black hole created by upper echelon corruption, arrogance & incompetence, all accomplished killers of Army aviators and SAS troops.
I’m sure you’re familiar. It has a detailed breakdown of the timeline for acquisition of MRH90 and the various capability milestones.
The aircraft delivery schedule was never the main issue, and I assume it will be the same for UH-60.
Fair point. By retiring the MRH-90s so early there’s a large capability gap until the last of the UH-60Ms arrive.