Australia’s military said Friday it plans to ditch its fleet of European-designed Taipan helicopters and instead buy US Black Hawks and Seahawks because the American machines are more reliable.
The move comes less than three months after Australia cancelled a deal to buy French submarines in favour of building nuclear-powered submarines that use US and British technology in a switch that deeply angered France.
Australia has 47 Taipan helicopters that were designed by Airbus and were supposed to last until 2037 but have been plagued with groundings. Australia will stop using them and buy 40 Lockheed Martin-designed helicopters in a switch that will cost 7 billion Australian dollars ($4.8 billion).
