AgustaWestland Philadelphia, a U.S. subsidiary of Italian defense company Leonardo, will be the principal contractor of a potential $120 million foreign military sale of TH-73A training helicopters to the Philippines.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which notified Congress of the Department of State’s FMS approval on Tuesday, said other items covered in the FMS include aircraft simulator, spare engines, fuel tanks, repair parts, commercial avionics and commercial GPS, as well as services in personnel training and U.S. government and contractor engineering.
The sale’s implementation will involve assigning up to four representatives from the U.S. government and the contractor to the Philippines for training program support over a period of up to three years.
Primary Training Mode
DSCA noted that the Philippine procurement will provide a primary mode for improving pilot training to help enhance the country’s capability to face existing and future threats. The FMS will not affect regional military balance, and the Philippine armed forces can absorb the TH-73A without difficulty, the agency added.
TH-73A users in the U.S. military include the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, with the training conducted at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Florida. The Navy adopted the training helicopter in 2021 to replace the TH-57B/C Sea Ranger, setting TH-73A deployment in its Advanced Helicopter Training System up to 2050. The aircraft is a variant of the commercial Leonardo TH-119 single-engine helicopter.
The potential FMS is the latest Philippines deal to receive approval from the United States. Earlier in April, DSCA said the country requested to purchase F-16 aircraft valued up to $5.6 billion, with Lockheed Martin as the principal contractor.