
Australia has announced it will ditch its fleet of European-designed Taipan military helicopters a decade earlier than scheduled, replacing them with 40 Black Hawk choppers from the United States at an estimated cost of 2.8 billion Australian dollars ($1.97bn).
US manufacturer Lockheed Martin Corp’s UH-60M Black Hawks will replace Australia’s fleet of MRH-90 Taipan helicopters, which have been plagued for years by costly maintenance issues, Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday.