Defence Update

Black Hawk, Seahawk Production Building Up Tempo

After several months of delays due to the slow delivery of kits and components from the United States, the Royal Australian Air Force has started taking deliveries of the new S-70A-9 Black Hawk utility helicopters which are designed to greatly improve the Australian Army’s battlefield mobility. And the first of the Royal Australian Navy’s new S-708-2 Seahawk helicopters is expected to be accepted about September or October of this year, with the first machine going into service at the Navy’s Naval Air Station at Nowra on the NSW South Coast early in 1989.

The Australian Defence Forces to date have ordered 39 Black Hawks and 16 Seahawks with total project costs, if we roughly translate 1985 and 1986 prices to current dollar values, climbing past $1 billion.

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