On Wednesday, August 13, 2025, the Philippine Air Force press service (Hukbong Himpapawid ng Pilipinas) announced on social media that a ceremony was held in the Haribon hangar at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat, near Manila, Pampanga Province, on the island of Luzon, to mark the delivery of another batch of five Sikorsky S-70i Black Hawk International multirole helicopters. The aircraft were ordered for the country’s armed forces from PZL Mielec, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. The first two batches, each consisting of five units, were delivered on December 9 and June 10, 2024. This means that 17 aircraft remain to be delivered (out of a total of 32 ordered).
Photos: Hukbong Himpapawid ng Pilipinas via Facebook
The helicopters arrived in the Philippines on July 15 of this year aboard an An-124-100 Ruslan heavy transport aircraft operated by Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines. Yesterday’s ceremony was presided over by Gen. Arthur M. Cordura.
The delivered helicopters underwent rigorous technical inspections and acceptance procedures conducted by a joint commission from the Philippine Department of National Defense, in collaboration with the armed forces and air force commands, to ensure compliance with all technical standards and user specifications.
On February 22, 2022, the Philippine Department of National Defense announced the signing of a contract worth 32 billion PHP / 623 million USD with PZL Mielec for the delivery of 32 S-70i Black Hawk International helicopters, with final assembled taking place in Poland. The agreement was signed at the Department of National Defense headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Manila, by Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana and PZL Mielec President and CEO Janusz Zakręcki. The acquisition of an additional batch of these helicopters was approved on January 16, 2022. The initial agreement with PZL Mielec had been concluded on December 28, 2021. The detailed contract includes an initial logistics support package as well as a training package for both pilots and ground crews.
The new helicopters join the 15 previously in service (out of 16 initially ordered, one of which crashed during a training flight from Colonel Ernesto Rabin Base on the night of June 23–24, 2021), which were delivered in 2020–2021.
The 205th Helicopter Wing of the Philippine Air Force operates the Black Hawks. On September 10, 2022, Philippine media reported plans to acquire a third batch of S-70i Black Hawk International multirole helicopters, expected to include up to 16 units. This would bring the total fleet to 63 aircraft, unless Manila decides to purchase an additional one to replace the unit lost in the crash.
Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, has supported operations in the Philippines since the late 1960s by supplying Sikorsky S-62B and H-34 helicopters. Since 1984, the company has maintained two S-70A Black Hawk helicopters, and since 1983, 17 S-76 helicopters in various configurations, including search and rescue and VIP transport. With the current orders for the S-70i Black Hawk International, the Philippines will become the largest operator of this type worldwide.
In September 2023, Lockheed Martin selected Asian Aerospace as the official authorized provider of spare parts and maintenance services for the Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter family in the Philippines. This enables customers to access high-quality, OEM-approved parts, sustaining the rapidly expanding fleet and ensuring a dedicated source of reliable support.
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See full article: https://t.co/mhKRH8ZMIc#FocusPAF #GuardiansofourPreciousSkies #PAFyoucanTrust #OneAFPOnePHILIPPINES #StrongAirForceStrongPHILIPPINES #AFPyoucanTRUST pic.twitter.com/H8iF4bt8Z2
— Philippine Air Force (@PhilAirForce) August 13, 2025