The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has completed the acquisition of all 32 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters it ordered from Lockheed Martin’s Polish subsidiary PZL Mielec.
The delivery brings the PAF’s total fleet of the type to 47 units, making the Philippines the largest operator of the S-70i variant in the world.
The final seven aircraft were formally accepted, turned over, and blessed during a ceremony at Colonel Jesus Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on August 26, 2026, with PAF Commanding General Lieutenant General Arthur M. Cordura serving as guest of honor.
A fleet built over two contracts
The PAF’s Black Hawk fleet was acquired in two phases. The first contract, signed in 2019, covered 16 S-70i helicopters for approximately PHP 11.5 billion (US$205 million).
Those aircraft began arriving in 2020 and 2021 and were put to immediate use in humanitarian assistance and disaster response, including during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of Typhoon Odette, which killed more than 400 people across the Visayas and Mindanao in December 2021.
One of those original 16 aircraft was lost in a crash in Capas, Tarlac, in 2021, leaving 15 operational from the first batch.
A second contract for 32 additional helicopters was signed in 2022 for approximately PHP 32 billion (US$571 million). Deliveries under that contract arrived in stages: the first 10 were handed over in 2024, another 10 in 2025, five more in January 2026, and the final seven on August 26, 2026.
Replacing an aging fleet
The Black Hawk acquisition is part of Horizon 2 of the Revised Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Modernization Program under Republic Act No. 10349, which aims to develop and modernize the military’s capabilities.
The S-70i helicopters are replacing the PAF’s aging fleet of UH-1H Huey helicopters, which had been in service for decades and could no longer adequately meet the country’s growing demands for troop transport, search and rescue, medical evacuation, and disaster response.
What the Black Hawk brings
The S-70i is a medium-lift utility helicopter capable of operating in day and night conditions and in various weather environments.
It can carry approximately 16 fully armed troops, or around 20 personnel depending on cargo configuration, and has an endurance of roughly two and a half hours per flight.
The aircraft is designed for a range of missions, including troop transport, search and rescue, aeromedical evacuation, fast-rope insertion and extraction, firefighting, heavy-load transport, and humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations.
Nationwide deployment planned
With 47 Black Hawks now in its inventory, the PAF plans to distribute the helicopters across different regions of the archipelago, particularly where Tactical Operations Commands are based.
The expanded fleet is expected to allow the air force to position aircraft in each region for faster emergency response and to conduct simultaneous missions across multiple operational areas, a critical capability for an archipelagic nation prone to natural disasters.
Some of the new aircraft are also set to be deployed to Palawan for air patrol missions in the vicinity of the West Philippine Sea, though officials noted the helicopter’s endurance limits its range to flights within Palawan’s surrounding area.
The 47 S-70i Black Hawks now serve as the PAF’s primary medium-lift airlift capability, complementing the air force’s remaining UH-1H Hueys as the service continues its shift from counterinsurgency operations toward territorial defense.