US approves potential sale of 40 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to Australia

The United States has made a determination approving a possible sale of multi-purpose helicopters to Australia.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency issued the required certification, notifying Congress of a possible sale.

The total cost of aircraft and equipment is approximately $1.95 billion.

The Australian government requested the purchase of 40 UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, 88 T700-GE 701D engines (80 installed, 8 spare), and other auxiliary equipment and related logistics elements.

Lockheed Martin will be the main contractor implementing these future agreements.

At the end of last year, it was announced that Australia will be replacing the multi-purpose Airbus MRH-90 Taipan helicopters with the UH-60M Black Hawk developed by the American company Sikorsky.

In June 2021, due to safety and maintenance concerns, the entire fleet of NH-90 helicopters used by the Australian Army and Navy was temporarily suspended from flying.

A Ministry of Defense Spokesperson then confirmed that the flights of these helicopters were temporarily suspended “as security measures” due to the issues related to the maintenance of aircraft.

A total of 47 MRH-90 Taipan helicopters (Australian name NH-90) were operated by the Australian military units since the late 2000s.

European helicopters were purchased to replace American-made S-70A Black Hawk helicopters that were in service since 1987.

New Black Hawk UH-60Ms are being purchased as a replacement for the MRH-90 Taipan multipurpose helicopters.

In May of this year, Australia completed the procurement procedure for the 29 AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters. They will replace the Airbus Helicopter Tiger ARH reconnaissance and combat helicopters.