The Colombian government plans to buy nine Black Hawk helicopters from U.S.-based Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, to bolster a fleet that is already the world’s third-largest.
The government will send an acceptance letter to Sikorsky in the next few months to formally confirm their intentions, according to El Espectador.
The helicopters will be paid for by a new wealth tax, recently approved by Colombian Congress.
Four of the choppers would go to the Colombian police, four to the army, and one to the air force.
Helicopters are considered indispensible in Colombia, where varied terrain makes other forms of transport problematic.