Taipan six feet under, Down Under

In October 2023, Scramble Magazine first wrote about the immediate retirement of the Australian Army's fleet of MRH90 Taipan helicopters after a series of mishaps.

This story has now taken a somewhat bizarre sequel, as it recently became clear that NH Industries (NHI) has reportedly bought back all the spare parts and components that were worth salvaging. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) then decided to secretly bury the 47 empty Taipan hulks on a defense site.

With an estimated value of around USD 14 million each, this probably means the most expensive funeral ever.

The replacement for the Taipan is the Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk. The ADF has ordered forty Black Hawks, but so far only three are reported to have been delivered and made operational. This leaves a fairly large gap for the operational demand of the military and special forces.

It is still unknown when the forty Black Hawks will be fully operational and deliveries will be completed.

Credit photo: Australian Army