Three Black Hawk helicopters from the US were delivered to Taiwan yesterday and are scheduled to be put into service as rescue aircraft in March, the Ministry of the Interior said.
The UH-60M helicopters arrived at Kaohsiung Port as part of a US$3.1 billion arms deal that was approved by the US in early 2010.
Equipped with forward looking infrared night vision enhancement systems, the three Black Hawks are to be deployed in the National Airborne Service Corps (NASC), particularly for nighttime search-and-rescue missions at sea, the ministry said.
Yesterday’s delivery was the third batch in a fleet of 60 UH-60M Black Hawks in the arms package, which also includes two Osprey Class mine-hunting ships, 12 ATM-84L and RTM-84L Harpoon Block II Telemetry missiles, 114 Patriot Advanced Capability missiles, US$2.82 billion worth of technical support, 35 multifunctional information distribution systems (MIDS) low volume terminals and 25 MIDS on ships terminals.
Of the 60 Black Hawks in the package, 15 are to be given to the NASC to boost its search and rescue fleet of AS-365N Dauphin helicopters, while the others would go to the Army Aviation Special Forces in Guiren, according to the ministry.
A Black Hawk helicopter is capable of carrying 12 troops with equipment, airlifting a 4.1 tonne external payload and taking off with a maximum weight of 10.66 tonnes.
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