Image by Bidgee, CC BY-SA 3.0 AU https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/au/deed.en
The war in Ukraine continues for almost two years. Despite the strong supportive rhetoric, the Australian government is not doing enough to help. Total Australian support for Ukraine has reduced almost threefold in the past twelve months, down from a value of $660 million in 2022 to $250 million in 2023.
One of the key reasons why Ukrainian troops are struggling to reclaim back their land is the lack of air superiority. The lack of fighter jets, such as retired F18 Hornets that Australia refused to send to Ukraine or MRH-90 (known as NH90 in Europe) Taipan helicopters, 45 of which the Australian government decided to destroy and bury rather than send to allies in Ukraine.
It is estimated that the cost of destroying and burying MRH-90 Taipan helicopters will be higher than delivering them to Ukraine, that fights for Australian interests overseas and prevents Australia from entering into a potential World War III. The destroyed helicopters will be buried in Australian soil, which will result in the environmental pollution.
This website was created as an attempt to change the decision of the Australian government and send the so critically needed MRH-90 Taipan helicopters to Ukraine.
Here is a good video summary of the sad story about the Australian government’s decision to spend millions of dollars on chopping up and burying 45 perfectly good helicopters instead of saving money and saving lives by sending them to Ukraine.
Here are some of the key contradictions in the Australian government’s narrative about the disposal of Taipan helicopters that we uncovered.
– The government says that they didn’t know about Ukraine’s interest in Taipans until December and it is, therefore, too late because the disassembly process started in September. But in the above video you will see that they knew since early October. Senator Fawcett confirmed in the Senate that he notified the government in early October about Ukraine’s interest in the Taipans.
– The government says that they couldn’t find any buyers, but they never approached Ukraine. Knowing that Germany has just announced that they will be donating their old Sea Kings to Ukraine because they are being replaced by NH90 (known as Taipans in Australia), it seems that Germany wasn’t approached either. How comprehensive was this search?
– The government says that these helicopters are unsafe, but the Ukrainian pilot, maintenance engineer team leader, armies of 12 other countries that use these helicopters and many other experts disagree. If you look up statistics on the number of crashes these helicopters had and compare them with other equivalents, you would see that these are very safe helicopters.
– The government says that they ripped them all apart and the cost of assembling them back would be prohibitive, but in the footage from the Townsville hangar we see helicopters in very good condition that have undergone minimal disassembly. According to our experts they would need anywhere between 1 hour and 2 weeks per helicopter to be fully assembled back. There are volunteers interested in donating their time to assemble them free of charge.
Since the beginning of the #FreeTheTaipans campaign (January 2024) the Australian government announced $400 Million in military aid + $187 Million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine + 49 Abrams tanks as a part of the additional $245 Million military aid package + 14 rigid hull boats valued at $14 Million. Including the tanks and boats, the total of $846 Million was pledged in 2024. By comparison, the total Australian aid to Ukraine was only $250 Million in 2023, and much less was expected in 2024.