Australia plans to sell 27 S-70A Black Hawks

The Australian Ministry of Defence (MoD) is planning to offer up to 27 Black Hawks for sale as it prepares to retire the helicopter type by December 2022.

According to a tender notice from March 2021, the potential sale is still subject to various US government and Australian defence ministry approvals. In particular, the helicopters may be subject to the US International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and the Export Administration Regulations (EAR).

The Australian government noted it would prefer to sell all the Black Hawks and related equipment inventory to a single purchaser or as few purchasers as practicable. The helicopters are expected to be available for sale from July 2021 at the earliest.

According to the MoD information, the Black Hawks are replaced by the the NHIndustries MRH90. Next to this replacement, the Australian Army is also in the process of acquiring up to sixteen four-ton class helicopters under Project LAND 2097 Phase 4 that will replace the Black Hawk in the special operations support role. Candidates are the Airbus H145M and the Bell 429 Global Ranger.

The first S-70A-9 Black Hawk was handed over to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in December 1987. After the first eight Black Hawks were delivered to the RAAF, it was decided that the helicopter type would be transferred to the Australian Army. The already delivered helicopters, serials A25-101 until A25-108, were transferred to the Army on 15 February 1989. Further deliveries were made direct to the Army.

The Sikorsky S-70A-9 Black Hawks are or have been operated by the following units (with credit to www.adf-serials.co.au):

RAAF:
9 Squadron at RAAF Base Amberley (Qld.) from December 1987 to February 1989
Australian Army:
School of Army Aviation at Oakey (Qld.)
5th Aviation Regiment at RAAF Base Townsville (Qld.) from to February 1989 to August 2014
6th Aviation Regiment at Luscombe/Holsworthy Barracks (NSW)

Scramble Magazine has the following 39 Sikorsky S-70A-9s in the database

Active:
A25-101, A25-102, A25-104, A25-106, A25-107, A25-108, A25-109, A25-110, A25-111, A25-112 and A25-114
A25-201, A25-203, A25-204, A25-205, A25-206, A25-207, A25-208, A25-210, A25-211, A25-212, A25-213, A25-214, A25-215, A25-218, A25-219, A25-222, A25-223, A25-224 and A25-225
Written-off:
A25-113 w/o 12jun96, A25-209 w/o 12jun96, A25-216 w/o 12feb04, A25-217 w/o 29jun92 and A25-221 w/o 29nov06
Preserved:
A25-103 and A25-220 at the Australian Army Flying Museum at Oakey (Qld.)
A25-105 at the Amberley Heritage Centre at RAAF Amberley (Qld.) in RAAF 9 Squadron markings
Instructional:
A25-202 as crash response helicopter at The Army Aviation Training Centre, Oakey (Qld.)

Photos: Australian Army and Australian Army Flying Museum (AAFM)