The Australian Defence Force has grounded its entire fleet of MRH-90 Taipan helicopters.
The decision was made after one of the helicopters ditched into the sea, injuring several crew members during a counter-terror exercise.
“We’re very lucky it wasn’t a more disastrous outcome,” said US Studies Centre Foreign Policy Director Professor Peter Dean.
“This is reflective of the issues the ADF has had with this fleet, we’ve kind of copped it since they were bought by the Howard government,” Mr Dean said.
‘I think this really reaffirms the government’s decision in this was only late last year to replace this fleet of helicopters with black hawks – which would be phased out the MRH-90 Taipans from next year, now that’s 13 years earlier than they were due to be replaced.”
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