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The Armed Forces of Ukraine has an interest in the Australian Defence Force’s retiring Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter fleet, according to ambassador of Ukraine to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko.
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Ambassador Myroshnychenko confirmed there was interest in acquiring the four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopter, manufactured and maintained by Airbus, which originally entered deployment in 2003 and are due for a withdrawal from service in 2028.
Ukraine has previously made a request for access to the Australian Defence Force’s now-scrapped MRH-90 Taipan helicopter fleet in late December last year but was denied by the federal government.
“I mean on the Taipan (helicopters) it was a decision of the government not to supply them. There might be some other helicopters or some other capabilities which may become available sometime soon. And if those could be provided to Ukraine, we’ll be thankful,” the ambassador said during a recent media conference regarding a shipment of Kord Defence equipment to Ukraine, held on 19 June.
“That would be the Tigers; we’d be interested in having that conversation and about something that will help.
“In terms of the Taipans (helicopter) we just have to move on. At the end of the day, it’s a decision that has just been made, things have happened and at the end of the day, it’s up to the Australian government to decide what they can do, what they cannot, and we fully respect them.”
Defence is also currently undertaking scrapping of the retired F/A-18 Classic Hornet aircraft fleet, which were originally withdrawn with their support equipment from January 2019 to December 2021.
Ambassador Myroshnychenko confirmed there was little interest in those aircraft.
“In terms of the F/A-18 (Classic Hornets), I mean there were some discussions. There never was a kind of a clear request from Ukraine,” he said.
“Ukraine figured out, you know, these systems are very complicated and they’re very expensive to maintain – so a decision was made in Ukraine to focus on F-16 aircraft and to train the pilots for them. That’s kind of the strategy we are following.”
