Battle rhythm

Given its recent groundings, we revisit this 2017 Australian Aviation profile on the troubled Taipan’s history.

By most reasonable measures, the acquisition and service entry of the Australian Defence Force’s MRH-90 Taipan has been long and painful.

Technical issues, contractual disagreements, order cancellations and service entry delays in European partner nations, multiple sub-variants and production lines leading to inconsistent spares and logistics support, and a critical Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report have all resulted in consistently bad press for the MRH-90, and a general perception that it is unloved by its Australian Army and Royal Australian Navy operators.