ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 5 new Black Hawk choppers join PAF fleet

5 new Black Hawk choppers join PAF fleet

Current Black Hawk fleet grows to 30

Published Aug 13, 2025 01:59 pm
(L-R) Philippine Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura and Maj. Gen. Ramil Oloroso, commander of Air Mobility Command, lead the ceremonial pouring of champagne at one of the five newly acquired S-70i Black Hawk helicopters during the formal acceptance, turnover, and blessing ceremony held at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat City, Pampanga on August 13, 2025. (Photo: PAF)
(L-R) Philippine Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura and Maj. Gen. Ramil Oloroso, commander of Air Mobility Command, lead the ceremonial pouring of champagne at one of the five newly acquired S-70i Black Hawk helicopters during the formal acceptance, turnover, and blessing ceremony held at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat City, Pampanga on August 13, 2025. (Photo: PAF)
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) received five brand-new S-70i Black Hawk helicopters which are expected to further enhance the country’s air mobility, disaster response, and security operations.
PAF Commanding General, Lt. Gen. Arthur Cordura led the acceptance, turnover, and blessing ceremony of the Black Hawks at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat City, Pampanga on Wednesday, Aug. 13.
“With this latest addition, the PAF further strengthens its capacity to conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations, troop and cargo transport, and other missions critical to national security and development,” PAF spokesperson Col. Ma Consuelo Castillo said.
The Black Hawks arrived in the country on July 15. They form part of the 32 Black Hawk units procured by the PAF from Polish aircraft maker PZL Mielec, a subsidiary of American defense and aerospace giant Lockheed Martin. The P32-billion deal, signed in February 2022, is included in the second horizon of the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ (AFP) revised modernization program.
The initial batch of five helicopters arrived in June 2024 while another five were delivered in December that year. This year, 15 units are scheduled for delivery, including the latest batch, while the final seven are set to arrive in 2026.
With the delivery, the PAF now operates 30 Black Hawks. The PAF also bought 16 Black Hawks from 2019 to 2021, but one of the choppers crashed in Capas, Tarlac in June 2021.
The Black Hawks will eventually replace the aging UH-1 Huey helicopters of the PAF.
Castillo said the fresh batch of Black Hawks underwent a stringent Technical Inspection and Acceptance (TIA) process conducted by the Department of National Defense (DND), AFP, and PAF “to ensure compliance with operational standards and specifications.”
The new Black Hawks will be operated and maintained by the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing under the Air Mobility Command.
The S-70i Black Hawk helicopters are known for their versatility, speed, and reliability in a wide range of missions.
Aside from troop transport, aerial reconnaissance, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations, Black Hawks were also used in military operations such as responding to emergencies.
Just last week, the PAF deployed a Black Hawk to perform heli-bucket operations and assist in extinguishing a huge fire that struck a residential area in Tondo, Manila.

Related Tags

PAF Black Hawk Clark Air Base modernization program AFP
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.