The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sales (FMS) deal related to South Korea's AHX competition for 36 attack helicopters.
The FMS documents have priced 36 Boeing AH-64D Block III Apache Longbows at $3.6 billion and 36 Bell Helicopter AH-1Z "Zulus" at $2.6 billion. Both listed a range of support equipment, weapons, sensors, communications equipment and services related to a possible sale.
For the AH-1Z, the DSCA lists Bell and General Electric at Lynn in Massachusetts as the prime contractors. For the AH-64D, the prime contractors are Boeing, GE at Cincinnati in Ohio, Lockheed Martin Millimeter Technology and the Longbow Limited Liability Corporation.
The other rival in the competition is the Turkish Aerospace Industries or AgustaWestland T129B.
Bids for the competition were submitted to Seoul's Defense Acquisition Program Administration on 10 May 2012. Industry sources say a decision is possible by the end of this year.
Source: Flight International
