Philippine Air Force receives five more S-70i Black Hawks from PZL Mielec

Lockheed Martin’s Polish subsidiary, PZL Mielec, has delivered five more S-70i Black Hawk helicopters to the Philippine Air Force (PAF). The aircraft were accepted in a ceremony on 13 August 2025 in the Haribon hangar at Clark Air Base in Mabalacat, near Manila.

The helicopters were delivered under a USD 624 million (EUR 535 million) contract signed in February 2022 in which the Philippines Department of National Defence (DND) ordered 32 S-70i Black Hawks from Lockheed Martin’s Polish subsidiary, PZL Mielec. The latest Black Hawk delivery means 15 of the ordered 32 helicopters have been received by the PAF so far, with the final aircraft covered by the contract expected to be delivered in 2026.

The Philippine DND previously ordered 16 Polish-built S-70i Black Hawks in 2019, although one of these was lost in a crash on 23 June 2021.

Lockheed Martin noted in a press release that in April 2025 the PAF used its Black Hawks as part of a joint training exercise conducted by the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing in co-ordination with the Philippine Navy aboard the Tarlac-class landing platform dock BRP Davao del Sur. In May 2025 the PAF and the US Air Force completed the joint ‘Cope Thunder Philippines’ exercise that involved aircraft from both fleets, with the PAF S-70i Black Hawks forming part of a comprehensive programme of flight and field training exercises.

In November 2024 the PAF used its Black Hawks to regularly transport relief goods and critical supplies to calamity-stricken areas in Cagayan province in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Ofel, as well as to conduct firefighting operations in response to a massive fire that broke out in Tondo, Manila.