Australia starts transition of Special Forces helicopter to MRH90 Taipan

The NHIndustries MRH90 Taipan in serrvice with the Australian Army's Special Operations Command.



The Australian Army (AA) has started the transition to replace its Sikorsky S-70A-9 Black Hawk helicopters with the new NHIndustries MRH90 Taipan helicopter, in support of roles of the AA's Special Operations Command. 

This was confirmed recently by acting head of Helicopter Systems Division of the Australian Department of Defence (DoD), Brigadier Jeremy King at the IQPC International Military Helicopter Conference in London. 

This is in preparation of the S-70A-9 Black Hawk's planned withdrawal from service, which is scheduled to be completed by November 2021. 

The first two MRH90 helicopters were reported to be delivered to the Special Operations Command last 1 February 2019, although the Australian Army has been operating the type for several years now with the 5th Aviation Regiment.

It was admitted that the MRH90 Taipan suffered from low level availability and the need for higher level of effort to sustain, but also mentioned that the Taipan are performing extremely well on Special Operations roles.

In addition, the Australian Army is also looking at purchasing up a new small special forces helicopter based ona commercial or military off-the-shelf design and will be equipped with a proven intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability.

Among those being considered are Bell's UH-1Y Venom, Leonardo's AW109, and Northstar Aviation's Bell 407MRH.



[1] Defence Connect
[2] IHS Jane's 



Australia starts transition of Special Forces helicopter to MRH90 Taipan Australia starts transition of Special Forces helicopter to MRH90 Taipan Reviewed by Asia Pacific Defense Journal on February 09, 2019 Rating: 5

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