The State Department approved a possible $495 million Foreign Military Sale (FMS) request to Saudi Arabia for nine UH-60M Black Hawk Utility Helicopters and associated equipment, parts, and logistical support.The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the potential sale on Oct. 13.The requested FMS would include major defense equipment (MDE) of nine UH-60M Black Hawk Utility Helicopters, 21 T700-GE-701D Engines (18 installed and three spares), 20 Embedded Global Positioning Systems with Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) (18 installed and…
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The State Department approved a possible $495 million Foreign Military Sale (FMS) request to Saudi Arabia for nine UH-60M Black Hawk Utility Helicopters and associated equipment, parts, and logistical support.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of the potential sale on Oct. 13.
The requested FMS would include major defense equipment (MDE) of nine UH-60M Black Hawk Utility Helicopters, 21 T700-GE-701D Engines (18 installed and three spares), 20 Embedded Global Positioning Systems with Inertial Navigation System (GPS/INS) (18 installed and two spares), 12 AN/AAR-57, Common Missile Warning Systems (CMWS) (nine installed and three spares), and 20 M240H 7.62mm Machine Guns.
The sale would also include non-MDE items such as Aircraft Survivability Equipment; M134 Miniguns; Electro-optical Infrared (EO/IR) system; Dual Mode (normal light/infrared) Controllable Search Lights; Fast Rope Insertion/ Extraction System (FRIES); External Electric Hoists; Internal Auxiliary Fuel Tank Systems (IAFS); Dual Patient Litter System; Ballistic Armor Protection System; aircraft warranty; air worthiness support; spare and repair parts; communications equipment; personnel training and training equipment; site surveys; tool and test equipment; ground support equipment; repair and return; publications and technical documentation; Quality Assurance Team (QAT); U.S. government and contractor engineering, technical and logistics support services; and other related elements of logistics and program support.
The primary contractors would be Sikorsky [UTX] and General Electric [GE].
Saudi Arabia would use this equipment through the Royal Saudi Land Forces Aviation Command (RSLFAC) for search and rescue, disaster relief, humanitarian support, counterterrorism, and combat operation, DSCA said in a statement.
Implementation of the FMS would require about 40-60 U.S. government and contractor representatives to travel to Saudi Arabia for up to 60 months for equipment de-processing, fielding, system checkout, training, and technical logistics support.
As the federal government enters a third week of tardiness in a fiscal 2027 budget release, a big question is how the Pentagon will be able to spend $500 billion […]
By
Rich Abott
