The National Airborne Service Corps of the Ministry of the Interior took delivery of six new Black Hawk helicopters at the Port of Kaohsiung yesterday, October 7, and towed the aircraft by road to Kaohsiung International Airport during the night.

The aircraft are part of a batch of 60 that were ordered by the Ministry of National Defense in 2009, 15 of which were allocated to the Airborne Service corps for search and rescue, and disaster relief operations.

The first nine units were deployed at bases in Taichung City, Hualien, and Taitung. Of the six new Black Hawks, three will be deployed at Songshan Airport in Taipei City, and three will remain in Kaohsiung.

Eighty-eight police officers were dispatched for traffic control as the helicopters were towed to the airport, three kilometers from the Port of Kaohsiung. The towing operation began shortly after midnight.

The new Black Hawks are fitted with an upgraded array of equipment, including forward-looking infrared thermal imaging cameras (FLIR), night search lights, direction finder, target positioning systems, and radar and satellite communications systems.

The onboard systems are designed to improve night-time maritime search and rescue operations.

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