US Army choppers ready to leave Gladstone

As mentioned in the previous post, thirteen United States Army military helicopters were shipped to and offloaded at Gladstone in late June for participation in Talisman Saber 2017, however, returned to the port city soon after completion of the mid-intensity "high end" warfighting exercise, but this time to be partially disassembled for overseas shipment aboard a civilian cargo vessel, some reportedly Indonesia bound for their next assignment.

Ferrying to Gladstone from the north, possibly Williamson Airfield at Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA), four Boeing AH-64 Apache and nine Sikorsky UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters touched down in a secure compound adjacent to the Port of Gladstone in two separate batches (one day apart) earlier this week. 

Wasting no time, work began almost immediately on preparing the choppers for transportation by sea, and while visiting the compound after preparation work was complete, Air Queensland.blogspot was allowed access to take a closer look at the US choppers.

Gladstone final port of call for US Army helicopters

Thirteen United States Army military helicopters were shipped to and offloaded at Gladstone in late June for participation in combined military exercise, Talisman Saber 2017. Fast forward one month to after completion of the mid-intensity "high end" warfighting exercise, the same choppers began returning to the port city, but this time to be partially disassembled in preparation for shipment aboard a civilian cargo vessel to Indonesia for their next assignment.

Ferrying to Gladstone from the north, possibly Williamson Airfield at Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA), four United States Army (US Army) Boeing AH-64 Apache and a single Sikorsky UH-60M Blackhawk helicopter touched down in a secure compound adjacent to the Port of Gladstone on Monday 24 July.

Wasting no time, work began almost immediately on partially disassembling the choppers for transportation by sea, with anticipation the remaining eight helicopters (all UH-60M Blackhawk choppers) arriving at the port city within a day or so for the same fate. 

While taking a few moments to have a chat with an Apache helicopter pilot, we were informed he was impressed with the manoeuvrability and speed of the Australian Army ARH Tiger helicopters, however, commented they did not exhibit an equivalent level of combat capability as the larger and heavier Apache.