Hummingbird: the first Philippine-made helicopter
The PADC Hummingbird in flight in 1980's |
It was not until July 1997 when President Ramos authorized spending for the project. The PADC undertook the development effort. Ramos was succeeded shortly thereafter by President Estrada, whose government immediately conducted a review of the Hummingbird program along with the Defiant. The review concluded that the two projects, which were only a year old at that point, were likely to be unjustifiably lengthy and expensive. As a result both were immediately terminated and added to the list of Filipino inventions that became scraps.
Hummingbird's present form |
Another factor was that the Hummingbird was in fact essentially an unlicensed copy of the MBB/Eurocopter Bo-105C and Eurocopter had threatened to sue the Philippine government. PADC had been involved with the assembly and maintenance on the helicopters, first acquired during the 1970s. To avoid the impending legal battle the PAF destroyed the prototypes. As of 2012, no attempt had been made to revive the Defiant or develop another helicopter program.
Source:
globalsecurity.org
Photo:
wikipedia.org
globalaviationresource.com