Jane Edwards
The State Department has approved Australia’s request to buy one Boeing-built EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, related equipment and defense services through a potential $125 million foreign military sales agreement.
The proposed FMS transaction includes engineering and modification, maintenance and storage, contractor and government engineering and technical assistance, validation and verification flight test efforts, studies and analysis, technical, programmatic and logistics support services, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Thursday.
The deal calls for the modification of the U.S. Navy’s Growler aircraft into the Royal Australian Air Force’s aircraft configuration and will require the deployment of government and contractor personnel to Australia to support technical reviews and meet other program requirements.
Australia is buying the aircraft to replace the Growler it lost in an accident and maintain its force projection capability to improve interoperability with the U.S. military.
DSCA said it notified Congress of the possible deal Thursday.
