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Mindef to take delivery of 4 Black Hawk choppers tomorrow BorneoPost Online | Borneo , Malaysia, Sarawak Daily News » Brunei - New 2 Borneo

Mindef to take delivery of 4 Black Hawk choppers tomorrow

Posted: 25 Nov 2013 05:24 PM PST

by Hakim Haya. Posted on November 26, 2013, Tuesday

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The Ministry of Defence (MinDef) will take the first delivery of four out of 12 S-70i Black Hawk helicopters it procured from US-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp tomorrow, a senior official from the ministry said yesterday, Borneo Bulletin reported.

At a press conference held for the fourth edition of the Brunei International Defence Exhibition (Bridex 2013), Datin Paduka Hajah Suriyah binti Haji Umar, Permanent Secretary (Administration and Finance) at MinDef announced that the aircraft will be unveiled during the opening ceremony of Bridex 2013 on December 3, 2013, scheduled to be attended by His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.

The S-70i Black Hawk helicopters will be handed over to the Royal Brunei Air Force (RBAirF) in an official ceremony the following day, she added.

The 2011 Bridex witnessed MinDef selecting companies for the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF)'s Support Helicopter Project, and it announced the selection of the S-70i aircraft on November 15 following several months of rigorous evaluation of competing helicopters.

Sikorsky signed the contract in December 2011 in Brunei to provide the S-70i choppers with associated spare parts, training and ground support equipment, according to a previous statement from Sikorsky Aircraft.

The project also came timely as the RBAirF intends to replace its ageing fleet of Bell 212 helicopters.

Black Hawk helicopters are renowned for high reliability, performance and survivability in multi-role operations. Currently more than 3,000 of the aircraft are operating in 30 countries. The S-70i helicopter is the latest variant of the Black Hawk helicopter family providing operators with the same power and lift performance as UH-60M Black Hawk aircraft. the preferred utility helicopter of the US Army.

The S-70i aircraft's advanced avionics include a dual GPS/INS system with digital map that provides accurate navigation and enhanced situational awareness. The aircraft can be ordered with user-specific navigation, communications and other tactical equipment.

Meanwhile, during the press conference, Colonel (L) Muzri bin Haji Mokhsin, Director of Science and Technology Research and Development at MinDef also shared some of the new initiatives and projects in the pipeline aimed at enhancing the technological capabilities and agility of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) and its major units.

In line with MinDef's development priorities, he said some of the projects include the procurement acquisition or tendering for the expansion of the Command Control and Communication Computer and Intelligence System (C4i) and also consultation for an Air Defence System programme.

Other projects that the MinDef is looking at in the next few years include the procurement of a Battle Management System which he said will be tendered out on the first or second quarter of the next financial year.

Also in the pipeline, he added, are projects aimed at enhancing RBAirF's existing Air Transport Capability to support Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) and peacekeeping operations, a project to replace the existing fleet of CVRT Scorpion of the Royal Brunei Land Force (RBLF) and the procurement of new tugboats for the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN). He also said MinDef was looking at suitable replacements for its training helicopters under the RBAirF.

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