NH90 MRH90 Taipan (Australia)
Australia's multi-role NH90, assembled in Brisbane for the Army and Navy · First flight 2007 · Retired 2023
Australia ordered 12 MRH-90s in 2004 and 34 more in 2006. Four were built in Europe and 42 were assembled in Brisbane by Australian Aerospace. The first Australian airframe flew at Marignane in March 2007, and the first two entered service in December 2007. The Army flew 40, twelve of them modified for special operations with a fast-roping system and door-gun mounts; the Navy's six flew with 808 Squadron.
The Royal Australian Navy stopped flying its MRH-90s in April 2022, and MH-60R Seahawks were chosen to replace them. In August 2022 the government approved 40 UH-60M Black Hawks for the Army.
In July 2023 an Army MRH-90 crashed at night off Hamilton Island, Queensland, during Exercise Talisman Sabre, killing all four crew. The fleet was grounded, and on 29 September 2023 the government announced that the type would not return to service, more than a year before its planned retirement.
