40 Hours of Maintenance for 1 Hour of Flight Time: Army Chief Outlines Sheer Cost of Taipan Fleet

The Taipan fleet has had a history of technical issues and was grounded in multiple instances.

A supplied image obtained on July 29, 2023, of an Australian Army MRH-90 Taipan helicopter conducting flying serials during the ship’s transit to Vanuatu, July 23, 2020. AAP Image/Supplied by The Australian Defence Force

Australia is projected to incur significant savings on the cost of maintaining the now-shuttered MRH-90 Taipan helicopter with their replacements, the UH-60 Black Hawks, with officials revealing the cost to be about one-fifth of their predecessors.

Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, told a Senate Estimates hearing that the new Black Hawk helicopters cost up to $12,000 every flight hour, compared to the $58,000 per flight hour for the Taipans.