 | Fleet Air Arm |
| Fleet Air Arm |
16 November 2011
Six Iroquois helicopters have been earmarked for sale to historical organisations to use in static displays.
The Government says it will give priority to historical organisations in Australia that have
strong connections with the aircraft.
Minister for Defence Materiel, Jason Clare, said the Iroquois helicopters - known as Hueys - served the Australian Defence Force for nearly half a century and featured prominently in the Battle of Long Tan during the Vietnam War.
They also assisted in many peacekeeping and humanitarian missions and their final deployment was to Sumatra in Indonesia to provide assistance following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.
Iroquois helicopters were withdrawn from service in December 2007.
Eleven Iroquois helicopters have already been allocated to Defence bases
around Australia and one to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra for
static display.
Another five will be kept by the Australian Defence Force as training aids and another two have been offered for sale to national returned service organisations.
Organisations displaying the Iroquois helicopters will be subject to the approval of the United States Government, under their International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
The helicopters will need to be "demilitarised" at a cost of up to $10,000 per aircraft. The cost of this work, and other costs associated with preparing the display, would be the responsibility of recipients.
Documents will soon be available for download after registering on the AUSTENDER website www.tenders.gov.au citing reference, DMOFD/RFO117/2011. Tenders will close on 27 January 2012.
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