As well as long-running insurgencies by communist and Islamist fighters, the Philippines faces growing Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. The other half would involve adding a UH-1N helicopter to the IAAFA inventory. An investigation found it “inadvertently entered a thunderstorm” and the pilot suffered “spatial disorientation or vertigo”. 'This helicopter helps us do that.' As more Latin American countries integrate Huey II helicopters into their fleets, Sotelo said the acquisition of the 1983 UH-1H is just one half of an equation needed to meet new helicopter maintenance requirements. At the time of retirement from service, 6 ea. This fleet of 10 each UH-1D/H helicopters were operated by the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) for almost 50-years as part of RNZAF 3 Squadron. There was an HH-1N version produced for the USAF as a base rescue helicopter and for use by the 20th Special Operations Squadron in the counter-insurgency role using the call. The Huey HH-1K was the CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) variant based on Marines UH-1E but with special Navy avionics 1-85. The Canadian designation was later changed to CH-135 Twin Huey. The entire Black Hawk fleet was grounded in June after an S-70i helicopter crashed during a night-time training flight, killing all six onboard. The new aircraft was designated UH-1N Iroquois in US service and CUH-1N Twin Huey in Canadian Forces use. Many of them were acquired as surplus from the United States, Manila’s longtime military ally. “This was exacerbated by our ageing Hueys that have become uneconomical to maintain.” The government last year completed an order of 16 S-70i Black Hawks to replace the air force’s fleet of Bell UH-1H helicopters, commonly known as the Huey, after fatal accidents. “The lack of transport planes and helicopters have never been more acute during the pandemic and in the aftermath of Typhoon Odette,” Lorenzana said, using the local name of Typhoon Rai, which left more than 400 people dead and caused widespread devastation when it hit the country in December. The Huey nickname stuck thanks to her early HU-1 designation (it was later redesignated to UH-1 with the normalization of 1962). The aircraft were needed for humanitarian assistance and disaster response, he said. From 1965 to 1973, the Bell UH-1, officially named Iroquois was the most common utility helicopter used in Vietnam.