Black Hawks retired – who knew?
Army’s last remaining Black Hawk helicopters have retired – and I didn’t know.
Was I asleep at the wheel/keyboard?
Just now, I’ve searched and searched and can find no announcement about this retirement.
But this story from February clearly shows the Black Hawk still operating on a commando-training activity – and this story shows them overflying a commemoration service for the 1996 Black Hawk crash, in June this year.
Yet today – Army held a parade at Russell Offices to upgrade Army Aviation from a brigade to a ‘Command’ with a major-general at its head, and listed Army’s current, in-service helicopter fleet as Boeing CH-47F Chinook, Eurocopter Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopter, NH Industries MRH90 Taipan multi-role helicopter and leased civil light utility helicopters – but no Black Hawks, even though there were two in the parade flyover!
How’s an editor supposed to keep up?
Aw well – they were a bloody great bit of kit. It’s just so sad to see them fade into obscurity without fanfare or announcement.
But wait – word just in that The Military Shop has just launched a beautiful range of official Army Black Hawk memorabilia.
So, if you are a Black Hawk fan, head on over to this Black Hawk page and buy, buy, buy to say goodbye to the venerable Black Hawk.
EDITOR’S NOTE: A small commission from every sale comes back to support your favourite military magazine – CONTACT 😉
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At least one was still flying on December 10:
http://images.defence.gov.au/20211210army8629169_0607.jpg
And then there’s this: “The Australian Defence Force will ditch its entire fleet of troubled European-designed Taipan helicopters a decade earlier than scheduled, replacing them with new Black Hawks and Seahawks imported from the United States.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-10/australia-dumps-troubled-mrh-90-taipan-helicopters/100688550
🙂
I found this online: “In 2007, under the Army Aviation Training and Training Support contract (AATTS), Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) took over the maintenance of a fleet of six Black Hawks used for training activities by the School of Army Aviation at Oakey, until the decision was made to replace them with the MRH90 helicopter. BDA will continue to support the maintenance and management of the stored Black Hawks until September 2022.”
https://www.boeing.com.au/resources/en-au/pdf/RAAF-100-Years/Blackhawk-PC.pdf