Package Would Also Include Associated Equipment, Training

The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Tunisia for OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Aircraft and associated equipment, training, and support. The estimated cost is $100.8 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale.

Tunisia has been approved to receive twenty-four (24) OH-58D Kiowa Warrior Helicopters via the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) Program under a separate notification. That separate notification included only the OH-58D airframes, thus this transmittal includes all the major components and customer-unique requirements requested to supplement the EDA grant transfer.

The Government of Tunisia has requested a possible sale of:

• Twenty-five (25) Embedded GPS/Inertial (EGI) Navigation Systems (INS)
• Twenty-four (24) AN/AAR-57 Common Missile Warning Systems (CMWS)
• Ten (10) AGM-114R Hellfire Missiles
• Eighty-two (82) Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) Rounds

This request includes the following Non-MDE:
To be installed on each of the twenty-four (24) EDA OH-58D aircraft: one (1) SHP Rolls-Royce 250-C30R/3 Engine, one (1) AN/ARC-164 UHF Radio, one (1) AN/ARC-186 VHF Radio, one (1) PC-DTS-V Data Recorder, two (2) AN/ARC-201D Radios, one (1) AN/APX-118 IFF Transponder, one (1) AN/APR-39A(V)1/4 Radar Signal Detecting Set, one (1) AN/AVR-2B Laser Warning Receiver, one (1) M134 DH Mini-Gun, one (1) M3P Aircraft Gun System, and two (2) M260 Rocket Launchers.

This request also includes: fifty (50) AN/AVS-6 Night Vision Goggles (NVGs), five-hundred thousand (500,000) 12.7mm rounds for the M3P Gun System, 2.3 million 7.62mm rounds for the M134DH Mini-Gun, the A965M1 Decoy Chaff Cartridges, M211 and M212 Advance Infrared Countermeasures Munition flares, eighty-two (82) MK66 MOD 4 2.75 rocket motors and eighty-two (82) M152 High Explosive (HE) warheads to support the APKWS, one (1) EGI for the Combined Armament Avionics Electrical Trainers, six (6) M279A1 Hellfire Launchers, associated test and support equipment, technical support, the Army’s Non-Standard Rotary Wing Aviation Program Manager’s Office (NSRWA PMO) technical support, Security Assistance Management Directorate’s (SAMD) program technical support, additional contractor support, Peculiar Ground Support Equipment (PGSE), Post Production Support Services (PPSS), Government Furnished Equipment (GFE), Retrofit Service Notice (RSN), Repair and Return (R&R), communication and navigation equipment, aircraft survivability equipment, displays, flyable storage, transportation of aircraft, publications, and training.

The total estimated value of MDE is $44.3 million. The total overall estimated value is $100.8 million.

The OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopters along with the parts, systems, and support enumerated in this notification will improve Tunisia’s capability to conduct border security and combat operations against terrorists, including Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Libya, and Ansar al-Sharia, Tunisia (AAS-T). These helicopters will further modernize the Tunisian armed forces and increase its interoperability with U.S. forces and other coalition partners. Tunisia will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces.

(Source: Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) news release. Image from file)

FMI: www.dsca.mil