Senator Richard Gordon on Sunday called for an investigation into the ill-fated S-7-I Black Hawk helicopter that crashed earlier this week and left six people dead.

Gordon said the latest in military mishaps, which happened on the evening of June 23, when the helicopter crashed at approximate 8 p.m. the incident was only discovered the following morning.

Six Philippine Air Force (PAF) personnel, including three junior officers, perished in the chopper crash. The six PAF officials were conducting night proficiency training.

“It would be best to give the right support to our men in uniform...to have lost six souls during a training exercise is unfortunate,” Gordon said.

“To not have retrieved their bodies until more than 10 hours after is heartbreaking,” the senator said.

The PAF subsequently grounded all its Black Hawk fleets immediately after the incident.

Gordon noted that the Black Hawk helicopters were acquired from Poland first in late 2020 and were manufactured by Poland’s PZL Mielec, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin which also acquired the original maker of the Black Hawk.

The Philippine government procured a total of 16 helicopters from the Polish governemnt in a contract worth US$241-million and were bought under a five-year modernization program.

Gordon said six helicopters were delivered in 2020 and the next five units were recently delivered in June 2021.

But Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has said there is an approval for 32 more Black Hawks for a total of 48 units, the senator noted.

“It is possible that these brand-new helicopters that we acquired could be faulty. They could pose a danger to our men in the air as well as to our citizens on the ground,” he said.

“We have a responsibility to our military to keep them safe and secure with the right vehicles, equipment, and training since they willingly put their lives in danger in the field,” the lawmaker stressed.