Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana on Thursday said President Duterte has agreed to acquire Blackhawk for the military’s combat utility helicopter requirement upon recommendation of the Air Force, contrary to that Chief Executive’s earlier pronouncement that the government should leave out the US as equipment providers for the Armed Forces modernization program.
“We talked to him sometime. Sir, this might be in violation with your pronouncement that you are not going to buy from US, but the Air Force wants that. He told us is that what you really want? The Air Force chief was there, and he said, yes sir. Okay, if that is what you want, go ahead,” Lorenzana, recalling the recent meeting they had with President Duterte.
Duterte, who has pivoted the country toward Russia and China, is against the acquisition of major military equipment from the US, and this is one of the reasons the Armed Forces has been considering Israel, South Korea, Europe and other countries as sources for its weapons and armaments.
But Lorenzana said that in the case of the Blackhawk, which is considered as one of the best combat military helicopters manufactured by Sikorsky which is under American defense maker behemoth Lockheed Martin, the President acceded to the wish of the Air Force as the end-user.
Lorenzana said that they told Duterte that the aircraft will be coming anyway from Poland wherein Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin have an assembly and manufacturing plant there.
“I think he approves that. Maybe this is an exception…because he said whatever the end-user’s want, we will buy it.”
The Blackhawk emerged as aircraft of choice for the Air Force, which also evaluated other aircraft for its need for combat utility choppers, including the Bell 412, the Russian MI-17, the Korean-made Surion and the Agusta 139.
As narrated by Lorenzana in December last year, the Air Force is eyeing to acquire 16 Blackhawks under the allotted budget of $240 million.
Aside from the Blackhawks, the Air Force will also acquire eight Turkish-made ATAK choppers for its attack helicopter requirement.