FACT CHECK: Australia didn’t donate a Chinook helicopter to the Philippines

Claim: Australia donated a heavy-lift Chinook helicopter to the Philippines on March 5, 2023. 

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The YouTube video containing the claim has over 143,562 views as of writing.

Not for the Philippines: The claim used a clip first uploaded by YouTube user NYX Defense on July 8, 2021. The title of NYX Defense’s video showed a CH-47F Chinook helicopter being unloaded from a United States C-5M Super Galaxy for delivery to the Australian army.   

According to a press release of the United States Air Force (USAF) 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs on July 28, 2021, the transfer of two Chinook helicopters to Australia is part of the US Defense Department’s Foreign Military Sales program. 

The USAF press release said the heavy lift helicopters were transported by the 9th Airlift Squadron aircrew from Dover Air Force Base in the US to the Royal Australian Air Force Base in early July 2021.

Official sources silent: There are also no announcements posted on the Facebook pages of the Philippine Air Force, the Department of National Defense, and the Australian embassy about a Chinook allegedly being given to the Philippines in March 2023.

On August 15, 2022, the Philippine government announced its plan to buy Chinook helicopters from the US, and not from Australia – as what was claimed. – Lorenz Pasion/Rappler.com

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