US mulls MH-60R sale to Saudi Arabia
The US State Department has approved a possible foreign military sale of MH-60R multi-mission helicopters, associated equipment and support to Saudi Arabia, as announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency on 20 May.
Saudi Arabia has requested a package including ten MH-60R multi-mission helicopters, 14 APS-153(V) multi-mode radars, 24 T-700 GE 401 C engines, 12 APX-123 Identification Friend or Foe transponders, 14 AN/AAS-44C(V) multi-spectral targeting systems and 26 embedded global positioning system/inertial navigation systems with selective availability/anti-spoofing modules and Link-16 capability.
It also requested 1,000 AN/SSQ-36/53/62 sonobuoys, 38 AGM-114R Hellfire II missiles, five AGM-114 M36-E9 captive air training missiles, four AGM-114Q Hellfire training missiles, 380 advanced precision kill weapons system rockets, 12 M-240D crew served weapons, and 12 GAU-21 crew served weapons.
The total cost is estimated at $1.9 billion.
The helicopters will improve Saudi Arabia's capabilities to meet future and current threats from enemy weapon systems, and provide the capability to identify, engage, and defeat maritime security threats. The country will also gain the ability to perform secondary missions including vertical replenishment, search and rescue, and communications relay.
If the sale goes ahead the principal contractors will be Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin.
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