After the submarines. Australia replaces French helicopters with American Black Hawk
Australia announced on Wednesday it would abandon its fleet of French-made Taipan military helicopters, despite a last-minute effort by Paris to salvage the contract.
According to the Daily Mail, Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said that the French "Taipan" helicopters will be replaced by American-made "Black Hawk" ones.
He added that the maintenance expenses of French helicopters were expensive, adding: "We have been struggling with Taipan helicopters for many years in terms of maintenance and obtaining spare parts."
"We didn't get the flight hours we needed from Taipan. We are confident that will be within our reach with the Black Hawks."
He stressed that he is confident that this decision will not harm Australia's reformed relationship with France, expressing confidence that there will be no disruption in relations between the two countries.
The Australian defence minister's announcement confirms that his country will press ahead with finalizing a $1.96 billion deal with the United States to buy 40 Black Hawk helicopters.
Trust between Canberra and Paris plummeted in 2021 following the then known as the "submarine crisis", when Australia's former conservative government abruptly scrapped a A$90 billion (US$62 billion) deal with France to buy submarines.
At the height of the dispute, French President Emmanuel Macron accused then-Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison of lying about the deal, and Paris recalled its ambassador to Canberra.
Comments
Post a Comment