The State Department has approved a potential $500 million deal with Croatia for the sale of eight UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress on Friday of the new foreign military sale.
Along with the Sikorsky [LMT]-built Black Hawks, Croatia would also receive 19 GE T700 engines, 18 M240H machine guns, counter-missile warning systems, SATCOM radios, radar warning receivers, laser detecting sets and additional equipment.
“The proposed sale will improve Croatia’s capability to deter current and future threats and support coalition operations as well as promote interoperability with the United States and other NATO forces,” the DSCA said in a statement.
Friday’s update follows a 2018 announcement the U.S. would donate two used Black Hawks to Croatia and a $115 million FMS case approved in October 2019 for two more new UH-60M helicopters (Defense Daily, Oct. 30 2019).
The first two UH-60M Black Hawks were delivered to Croatia in February 2022.
Sikorsky signed the expected final UH-60 Black Hawk multi-year production deal with the Army in 2022, awarding the company a five-year deal worth $2.3 billion for delivery of 120 H-60M helicopters (Defense Daily, June 27 2022).
With options, the Army said the 10th multi-year deal for Black Hawks could potentially be worth $4.4 billion and cover up to 255 helicopters.
Army officials have previously stated the latest Black Hawk multi-year deal would likely be the last as the service shifts its priority to buying the Future Vertical Lift fleet, to include the new Bell [TXT]-built Future Long Range Assault aircraft.
Sikorsky President Paul Lemmo has previously said he’s still “optimistic” about the potential for future production opportunities with the Black Hawk platform (Defense Daily, April 26 2023).
Doug Bush, the Army’s top acquisition official, told lawmakers last year that continued FMS cases for Black Hawk “would be an ideal way to balance the two factors, reduce how much the Army has to invest but maintain the goodness of the industrial base and the workforce.”