It was announced recently by Sweden’s Secretary of Defense, Sten Tolgfors, that Sweden will buy 15 new UH-60M Black Hawks, also known as Sikorsky S-70. The helicopter type will be designated HKP 16 once it is operational in the Swedish Armed Forces Helicopter Wing.

The pilot training will commence at Fort Rucker and Fort Campbel in the US this summer and the first delivery is expected to take place in the beginning of 2012. All fifteen helicopters should be fully equipped and ready for missions in 2017.

Today the Swedish Armed Forces operates three helicopter types.

• HKP 10 (AS 332 Super Puma) and
• HKP 15(Agusta 109) are fully operational, and
• HKP 14 (NH90) is being delivered.

Up till today there have been over 3000 Black Hawk helicopters manufactured and it is used by 27 countries all over the world.

18 NH90 helicopters were ordered for almost 10 years ago, but they are not expected to be fully operational until earliest 2020. By purchasing well proven helicopters the Swedish Armed Forces Helicopter Wing are hoping to avoid the same fate as with the NH90s, and that the costs will be reduced by half, Sten says.

The purchase will open the possibility of an extension of the current Swedish involvement in Afghanistan as early as 2013. The Swedish Armed Forces are currently operating two HKP 10B medevac helicopters in the country.

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Reproduced from Nordic Rotors with permission. Copyright and full responsibility for the content of this article remains with Nordic Rotors