2023-09-29 09:33:30
The Australian army has announced that it is abandoning its fleet of Taipan helicopters, the local version of the European NH90, earlier than expected.
The Australian army announced this Friday that it was abandoning its fleet of European-made MRH-90 Taipan helicopters, after the accident of one of these planes in July, which killed four soldiers.
The Australian army’s approximately 40 Taipan helicopters were grounded during the investigation into the accident during night military exercises off the Whitsunday Islands. The aircraft was initially scheduled to be withdrawn from service at the end of 2024. The Taipans “will not resume flight operations” before this date, the Australian Department of Defense said in a statement.
The Australian government announced that it would put into service a new fleet of 40 American-made UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters.
Australian officials had complained about the Taipans, citing difficulties in maintaining them and obtaining spare parts. The fleet had already been grounded for a month this year after one of the helicopters had suffered an engine failure during a training exercise, forcing the crew to throw themselves into the ocean.
The Australian government had previously announced that it would commission a new fleet of 40 American-made UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters, three of which already began flying in September. Australia has also decided to replace its Tiger attack helicopters, built by Airbus, by American machines, Apache Guardians from Boeing. It also made a rapprochement with the United States in the field of sub-mornings, to the detriment of France.
A multirole helicopter
The Taipan is the Australian version of the NH90, a multirole helicopter which is in service with several European armies under the name Caïman. This device is produced by the European industrial consortium NH Industries (NHI), which brings together the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus Helicopters, the Italian group Leonardo and the Dutch Fokker.
In Belgium, Defense had decided to separate from four NH90 Cayman in terrestrial version (TTH) currently in service within the 1is wing of Beauvechain. These machines, although operationally satisfactory, have proven to be very expensive to use and their number of flight hours has been limited.
However, no concrete decision has yet been taken regarding a possible withdrawal date. They will be replaced by H145M light helicopters of Airbus Helicopters, to which heavier helicopters will later be added. On the other hand, the four NH90s in marine version (NFH) will be retained.
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