President Rodrigo Duterte prepares to board a helicopter after gracing the inauguration of the Sangley Airport Development Project in Cavite City on Feb. 15, 2020. ALBERT ALCAIN/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO
President Rodrigo Duterte has approved the acquisition of 15 Black Hawk helicopters for the military as part of its modernization, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said on Thursday.
Duterte authorized the purchase in a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Nograles said.
The president earlier vowed that the government would provide the military newer helicopters so it could do away with commissioning Huey helicopters, which had been involved in fatal crashes.
The Huey helicopters the military was using were Vietnam War-era flyers.
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) grounded all of its Huey helicopters following a crash last month in Bukidnon, where seven soldiers died.
The PAF recently commissioned the first six of 16 Polish-made Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk helicopters ordered in 2019 as part of its modernization program.
The remaining 10 units are expected to be delivered within the first quarter of 2021.
The helicopters are being procured by the Philippine government under a $241.5-million government-to-government contract to meet the Horizon 2 phase of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization Program.
Nograles said negotiations had yet to be made for the purchase of Black Hawk flyers and the number of helicopters to be procured could change. John Ezekiel J. Hirro