Kraków 2022-09-13
Sikorsky-Mielec Black Hawk S-70i.
Search and rescue helicopter.
In 2022, in Kielce, as part of the XXX International Defense Industry Exhibition, Polskie Zakłady Lotnicze from Mielec presented the search and rescue helicopter S-70M Black Hawk. Such helicopters were ordered by the Ministry of the Interior of Romania in the amount of 6 copies. The delivery will be made in 2023.
It turns out that the Sikorsky-Mielec Black Hawk S-70i multi-role helicopters are very useful for performing various tasks, not only military. One should also know that for the effective use of this equipment, the cooperation of various uniformed services is necessary; army, police, border guards, fire brigades. An agreement had already been reached between the Polish Army and the State Fire Service. As agreed, the military-owned Black Hawk S-70i multi-role helicopters will be used in the first place. In Poland, they are used by commandos from the GROM Military Unit. The Polish Army currently has 4 Black Hawk S-70i helicopters. The Ministry of National Defense will have 8 helicopters of this type. On the other hand, the Polish Police has 3 S-70i helicopters.
In Poland, on July 26, 2022, the General Headquarters of the State Fire Service (KG PSP) announced that policemen and firefighters set off on board the S-70i Black Hawk International helicopter with a Bambi Bucket water tank to fight a fire in the Czech National Park and Saxon Switzerland in the Czech Republic. A forest fire in the Bohemian Switzerland National Park broke out on Sunday morning on August 24, 2022, in hard-to-reach rocky terrain. The element spread over an area of approximately 300 hectares on the Czech-German border, approximately 50 kilometers from the south-western border of Poland. The help of Polish firefighters and policemen was a response to the demand of the Czech side submitted through the EU aid mechanism. Polish policemen, firefighters and equipment did very well. Once again, the Black Hawk S-70i helicopters proved their versatility.
Bambi Bucket type tanks with a capacity of 1.5 cubic meters and 3 cubic meters have been used in Poland since December 2020. The tanks can be hung under the S-70i and PZL W-3 Sokół helicopters. The empty tank is transported inside the helicopter. The tank is suspended on a sling up to 20 m long. The tanks were already used in May 2022 to fight a forest fire near Nowe Miasto on the Pilica river and in August 2021, at the request of Turkey. The flight to Turkey took place on August 5, 2021. The team consisted of 14 people.
According to the Headquarters of the State Fire Service in Poland, the GFFFV system is used. The GFFFV system is an English abbreviation that stands for Ground Forest Fire Fighting using Vehicles. It is a module for extinguishing forest fires from the ground with the use of vehicles. Currently, under the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union, Poland has six such modules, specialized in extinguishing forest fires, which are stationed in the following cities: Kraków, Białystok, Poznań, Olsztyn, Szczecin and Wrocław.
Already in 2017, the PZL Mielec plant signed a contract for the delivery of two S-70i Black Hawk helicopters to the USA. The helicopters have been ordered by Los Angeles County authorities. The helicopters were named „Firehawk". They were delivered in December 2017. Helicopters have been used to combat forest fires and to respond to other emergencies. Each „Firehawk” helicopter has wider rotor blades, which increases the lift capacity of the machine. The helicopters have a glass-glass cockpit that allows pilots to better assess the situation during the mission, a recorder of sounds and flight data built into the cockpit, and a machine condition management system that allows for constant monitoring of its operating parameters.
Written by Karol Placha Hetman